Fort Wayne, IN-- The Komets fell 4-3 Saturday night at Toledo in overtime to give the Walleye at 2-0 lead in the Central Division finals best-of-seven series.
The Walleye struck quickly with Tyson Spink beating Fort Wayne goaltender Pat Nagle at 22 seconds into the game for the only scoring in the first frame.
The Komets responded in the second period with Gabriel Desjardins scoring his third of the playoffs at 8:40. However Kyle Bonis posted an unassisted marker with 45 seconds remaining in the period to give Toledo a 2-1 lead.
The Komets opened the scoring in the third stanza at 4:07 when Kyle Thomas scored his team-high fourth goal of the playoffs to pull the Komets even again at 2-2. The Walleye once again jumped out front 3-2 at 13:35 as Dane Walters notched his second of the post season. The Komets rallied with Nagle pulled for the extra attacker and Cody Sol finally beat Walleye goalie Jeff Lerg from out front of the net at 19:40 to force Toledo into its first overtime of the playoffs.
After being awarded a power play at nine seconds into the overtime period, the Walleye took advantage and Walters scored his second of the night at the one minute mark to give Toledo the win and a 2-0 series lead.
Komet goaltender Nagle finished with 26 saves on 30 shots while Lerg made 38 saves on 41 shots.
The Komets were 0/4 on the power play while Toledo was 1/3 with the man advantage.
The series switches to Fort Wayne as the Komets and Walleye face off in game 3 Wednesday at 7:30pm. Game 4 is Friday night at 8:00 at the Memorial Coliseum.
2017 ECHL KELLY CUP CENTRAL DIVISION FINALSFORT WAYNE KOMETS VS TOLEDO WALLEYEToledo leads best-of-seven series 2-0Game 1- Friday, April 28...........Fort Wayne 1 at Toledo 2Game 2- Saturday, April 29.......Fort Wayne 3 at Toledo 4 (OT)Game 3- Wednesday, May 3.....Toledo at Fort Wayne, 7:30pmGame 4- Friday, May 5.............. Toledo at Fort Wayne, 8:00pmGame 5- Saturday, May 6......... Fort Wayne at Toledo, 7:35pm*Game 6- Monday, May 8........... Toledo at Fort Wayne, 7:30pm*Game 7- Wednesday, May 10...Fort Wayne at Toledo, 7:35pm**If necessary.
Get Tickets-- Tickets for the first two Komet/Walleye division finals games in Fort Wayne (Fort Wayne home playoff games #3 and #4) are on sale at the Coliseum ticket office and at www.ticketmaster.com. Also, Season Tickets with Early Bird Pricing for the 66th anniversary season are on sale now. For more information visit Komets.com or call 260-483-0011.