Komets down Mallards 3-1

Fort Wayne, IN-- The Komets defeated the Quad City Mallards Saturday night at the Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne 3-1 to take a 2-0 lead in the Central Division semifinals series.

Komet Mike Cazzola opened the scoring 8:01 into the first period with his second goal of the series followed by Mike Embach's first of the playoffs at 17:03 to give Fort Wayne a 2-0 advantage. Quad City's Jack Nevins netted a power play marker with 36 seconds remaining in the first frame to cut the Komets lead in half at 2-1.

Jamie Schaafsma beat Mallard goaltender C.J. Motte with a power play tally at 15:22 of the second period to give the Komets a two-goal cushion at 3-1 and the eventual win. Cazzola assisted on the goal for a second straight two-point night.

Goaltender Pat Nagle logged his second straight playoff win for the Komets making 17 saves on 18 shots. Motte suffered the loss for Quad City allowing three goals on 37 shots.

The series switches to Quad City for games 3, 4 and if needed, 5. Games 6 and 7, if necessary, are scheduled for Fort Wayne.

2017 ECHL KELLY CUP CENTRAL DIVISION SEMIFINALSFORT WAYNE KOMETS VS QUAD CITY MALLARDSFort Wayne leads best-of-seven series 2-0Game 1- Friday, April 14...............Quad City 3 at Fort Wayne 4Game 2- Saturday, April 15...........Quad City 1 at Fort Wayne 3Game 3- Wednesday, April 19......Fort Wayne at Quad City, 7:35pm ETGame 4- Friday, April 21...............Fort Wayne at Quad City, 8:05pm ETGame 5- Saturday, April 22...........Fort Wayne at Quad City, 8:05pm ET*Game 6- Monday, April 24............Quad City at Fort Wayne, 7:30pm ET*Game 7- Wednesday, April 26......Quad City at Fort Wayne, 7:30pm ET**If necessary.Get Tickets-- Regardless of what happens in Quad City, there will be a third Fort Wayne home playoff game. Tickets for Fort Wayne's playoff home game #3 will go on sale Monday at the Coliseum ticket office and at www.ticketmaster.com starting at 12:00 noon. Also, Season Tickets with Early Bird Pricing are now available. For more information visit Komets.com or call 260-483-0011.

Komets on the air-- Fans can follow the Komet playoffs on WOWO AM 1190 and FM 107.5 with Shane Albahrani calling the play-by-play. All Komet radio broadcasts can also be heard worldwide as presented by Omni Source Radio Recycle at www.komets.com.