Walleye roll past the Bison

The Walleye wagon continued to roll along on Sunday as Toledo stretched its season-high winning streak to 10 games.

Dylan Moulton, Nate Roy, Tanner Dickinson, and Riley McCourt scored in a 4-1 win over the Bloomington Bison at the Huntington Center. Goaltender Carter Gylander won his fourth straight start, finishing with 20 saves.

The Walleye have not lost in over a month. The team’s last setback came on Dec. 3 versus Bloomington, a 4-3 home loss in overtime.

“Huge credit to these guys,” Walleye coach Pat Mikesch said. “It’s not an easy schedule this time of the year. And they’ve performed every night and found different ways to win. We’re finding a little bit more confidence within that room.”

The Walleye were back on home ice for the first time since Dec. 20 after a brief work stoppage by ECHL players during a contract dispute caused the postponement of three of the team’s games, including a Dec. 26 home game.

“Everybody was excited the day we got back to the rink, and we were around each other,” Mikesch said. “It’s a real close group and with the uncertainty, a lot of guys were still at home, waiting for it to be resolved. So getting everybody back, you could see the excitement level.”

The Walleye (19-5-4) have outscored opponents 49-18 during the 10-game winning streak.

Moulton, a defenseman, scored his first of the season on a beauty of a backhanded shot to put Toledo up 1-0 late in the first period. Defenseman Jacob Truscott set up the play with a fine feed into the slot area before Moulton lifted the puck over the shoulder of Bloomington goalie Dryden McKay (30 saves).

“That felt good because I felt like I had a little bit of a monkey on my back this year,” Moulton said. “I was getting chances, but I wasn’t finishing them. So it’s good to finally get one. I think that as a team we’ve found a way to stick to our game and not veer off too much in these past 10 games.”

Gylander, who has been assigned back and forth from Toledo to Grand Rapids in the AHL in the last month, is now 9-3-1.

“It’s always great to just play games, whether it’s here or in GR. You don’t really change your mindset. You go out there and give your team a chance to win,” Gylander said. “It’s fun when we’re winning like this. It’s all hands on deck. When everybody is pulling the same rope the same way, you get those results.”

In early December, the Walleye had a 9-5-4 record after a 4-2-4 stretch. Toledo had lost four in a row.

But the Walleye now lead the ECHL Central Division with 42 points, four more than second-place Fort Wayne (16-7-6).

Dickinson, a Perrysburg native, scored his 11th goal of the season. He was credited with the goal after Bloomington had pulled its goalie and won the faceoff, but the puck went right into the Bison’s net.

“I was trying to win the draw back, and he won it, and it went all the way down. I got pretty lucky there, but they don’t ask how,” Dickinson said. “It’s obviously cool to be back here where I grew up. Everyone’s just doing their job, and everyone’s buying into the system. The more we play like that, the more fun everyone has.”

Roy scored with a quick wrist shot with 9:10 left in the second period to put Toledo up 2-0.

Bloomington ended Gylander’s shutout bid when Nikita Sedov scored with 5:46 left in the second period. But McCourt quickly answered with a power-play goal as he scored on a rebound with 3:31 left in the middle period for a 3-1 cushion. Dickinson added an empty-net goal with 28 seconds left.

The Walleye’s longest winning streak last season was six games. In the 2023-24 season, the Walleye ended the regular season on a 14-game winning streak and then won their next eight in the playoffs for a 22-game streak — the longest winning streak in ECHL history. In 2022-23, the Walleye set an ECHL record for most consecutive wins in the regular season with 18.

Sunday was the first of three straight home games for the Walleye, who host Iowa on Friday and Fort Wayne on Saturday.

FISH TALES: Both teams were wrapping up a three-games-in-three-days weekend. The teams also were playing their fourth game in five days. Toledo won at Kalamazoo on Wednesday and then at Cincinnati on Friday and Saturday. … McCourt, who has 104 points in his Walleye career, has the most points by a defenseman in Walleye history. He passed former Toledo defenseman Simon Denis for the lead on Dec. 31.

Contact Mark Monroe at

mmonroe@theblade.com or

on X @MonroeBlade.