K's collide with Walleye Friday, Eagles visit Sunday

Fort Wayne, IN-- Week 18 of the 2015-16 campaign yielded four points in four games for the Komets. Fort Wayne reached 60 points on the season going 1-1-2 and finishing the week at 28-15-4 after 47 games. The Komets maintain first place in the Midwest Division of the Western Conference with eight weeks and 25 games remaining.

The Komets started the week gaining a point in a 3-2 overtime decision at Evansville on Tuesday. After spotting the IceMen two goals the Komets rallied for a pair in the second period by Mike Embach and Trevor Cheek. A scoreless third period led to the extra frame where Komet goaltender Pat Nagle was solved at the four-minute mark for his third overtime setback of the year. The Komets pushed their unbeaten streak to four games (3-0-1) and are 3-3 in games ending in overtime.Friday the Komets began a triple-header road weekend by being clipped at Cincinnati 6-5. The Komets penalty kill streak of successful kills was stopped at 48 on Cincinnati's first power play of the game. It was the first power play goal scored against Fort Wayne since Jan. 8. Five different players scored for the Komets including Jamie Schaafsma, Cheek, Kyle Thomas, Alex Belzile and Paul Crowder. Nagle suffered his ninth loss of the season on his fourth straight start making 31 saves.

Saturday the Komets rebounded with a 4-3 win at Kalamazoo and closed out the season series at 7-1-0, winning the season series for the second straight year against the Wings. Brett Perlini, Thomas, Schaafsma and Garrett Meurs each hit the net while netminder Sean Bonar earned his second Fort Wayne win making 26 saves on 29 shots. Both Bonar's victories have been at Kalamazoo.

Sunday the Komets earned a point in their first shootout of the year, a 3-2 win for the Walleye in Toledo. Troy Bourke and Shawn Szydlowski scored for the Komets in regulation while Pat Nagle suffered the shootout loss after making 25 saves on 27 shots in regulation and overtime.Komet leaders-- Embach ranks second in the ECHL with 22 goals and 10 power play goals and ranks third with 50 points.....Szydlowski leads the Komets with 33 assists.....Drew Daniels leads with +16....Cody Sol leads with 133 penalty minutes

Special K's-- The Komets were 3/15 on the power play for the week after scoring with the man advantage in three of the four games and continue to lead the ECHL with a power play rating of 22.8% (41/180). The Komets were 15/19 on the penalty kill and rank second in the league with a 88.0% penalty kill (168/191). The Komets have the league's best home power play unit at 25.6% (23/90). The Komets have not surrendered a power play goal at home since Dec. 18 for a penalty kill streak of 34 successful kills at home. The Komets rank third at home on the penalty kill at 88.0% (73/83).

Milestones-- Brett Perlini skated his 200th career game Friday at Cincinnati. Perlini made his ECHL debut in 2012-13 with Bakersfield. 2015-16 is Perlini's fourth pro year after also skating ECHL stints with Greenville, Toledo and Indy.

Welcome back-- Center Paul Crowder made his return to the Komet fold this past week and celebrated by scoring in two of his four appearances (1g, 3a).Hot Komets-- Brett Perlini has points in 20 of his last 25 games (11g, 15a).....Trevor Cheek has points in 12 of his 14 games with Fort Wayne (10g, 7a) and fashioned an eight-game point-scoring streak which was stopped Sunday at Toledo.....Troy Bourke has points in five of his six games (2g, 4a).....Mike Embach has points in five of seven games (4g, 6a).....Alex Belzile has connected in seven of his last nine appearances (3g, 8a).....Shawn Szydlowski has only gone two games without a point twice in 38 games and currently has points in six of his last seven (1g, 9a).....and Kyle Thomas has added to his totals in four of the last seven games (2g, 4a).

Home streaking-- Many players will be putting home point streaks at risk this weekend when the Komets return after a two-week absence. Brett Perlini has scored points in each of his last 10 home games (3g, 10a), Alex Belzile is riding a seven-game home point and assist streak (3g, 9a), Trevor Cheek has had points in each of his five home appearances (5g, 3a), Shawn Szydlowski has a five-game home point streak (1g, 5a) and Goaltender Pat Nagle has won six straight home games. The Komets have won six straight home games and are unbeaten in regulation at home in 10 straight games (9-0-1).

THE WEEK AHEAD

Friday, Toledo Walleye (29-13-5, 63 points) at Komets-- The Komets will meet the Walleye this weekend for a home-and-home series starting at Fort Wayne Friday at 8pm. It will be the third of four visits by Toledo to the Coliseum where the Komets are undefeated by the Walleye after two meetings this season (2-0-0). It's Toledo's first trip to Fort Wayne since the Komets shut out the Walleye 1-0 in overtime Nov. 28. Toledo leads the North Division and ranks third in the Eastern Conference with 63 points after 47 games. The Walleye are 6-2-1 in their last nine games and 2-2-1 in their last five. Toledo will host Colorado Wednesday before making the trip to Fort Wayne Friday.

Saturday, Komets at Toledo Walleye-- The Komets head for Toledo Saturday and a 7:15pm faceoff at the Huntington Center (7,431). It's the fifth and final journey to Toledo this year where the Komets are 1-2-1 after four visits.

Sunday, Colorado Eagles (25-20-2, 52 points) at Komets-- The Komets return home Sunday to host Colorado in the only meeting this season at 5pm. The last time the Komets faced the Eagles was a three-game visit to Colorado in 2013 in the CHL on Feb. 6, 8 and 9 (1-2-0). It's the first time the Eagles have visited Fort Wayne since they were in town to close out the 2010-11 CHL season. Colorado won the first game 7-6 in overtime March 25 and the Komets stopped the Eagles 2-1 in the rematch March 26. The Western Conference rival Eagles sit in third place in the West Division and trail first-place Idaho by seven points and are 9-2-0 in their last 11 games and 2-2-0 in their last four. Colorado visits Toledo Wednesday and will skate a pair of games at Kalamazoo Friday and Saturday before visiting Fort Wayne Sunday.Meet The Komets Tuesday at Tucanos Brazilian Grill in Jefferson Pointe. Komet legendary mascot Icy will be on hand with Komet stars Mike Embach, Pat Nagle, Cody Sol and Drew Daniels for photos, autographs, great food, friends and fun from 6:30pm-8pm this Tuesday, Feb. 16! Friday night Marathon Nights-- Again this year Komet fans can save on their Friday night tickets with Marathon. Fans can earn a buy-one-get-one-free ticket offer with the purchase of three fill-ups at any participating Marathon location. Save with your Marathon Fill-Up Card at the game this Friday when the Komets host the Toledo Walleye.Kids Seat Free Sunday-- The Komets will feature another Kids Seat Free Night when the Colorado Eagles visit Sunday, courtesy Aunt Millie's, Parkview Health and the Komets. Any child under the age of 12 can see the game for free with a full-priced adult ticket purchase.Wendy's Family Night Sunday-- The Komets present Wendy's Family Night at every Sunday home game this season. Coupons for a Sundays 4-for-$32 ticket offer are available at Wendy's locations around the Fort Wayne area. Also, fans can bring their skates for a free open skate after each Sunday Family Night home game.

Get your tickets early-- Tickets for Komet home games are on sale at the Coliseum Ticket Office and online at TicketMaster.com. Discounted Group tickets are also on sale for all Komet home games at the Komet office at 1010 Memorial Way. Call the 260-483-0011 or visit komets.com for more information.

Komets on the air-- Komet games are scheduled to be aired on WOWO AM 1190 and FM 107.5 with Bob Chase calling the action radio-rinkside in his 63rd consecutive season. All Komet radio broadcasts can also be heard worldwide as presented by Omni Source Radio Recycle at www.komets.com. Soundoff With The Komets continues this year on 21Alive in Fort Wayne. The 30-minute live telecast is hosted by Tommy Schoegler from SportOne/Parkview IceHouse each Monday night at 7:30 throughout the season. Tonight Komet forward Kyle Thomas will be the guest.