Komets claim game 1 at Toledo 5-3

Fort Wayne, IN-- The Komets rallied from a 3-1 deficit with four unanswered goals for a 5-3 victory at Toledo Saturday night and take a 1-0 second-round series lead.

The Walleye opened the first game of the ECHL Central Division finals with a power play goal by A.J. Jenks at 6:08 of the first period but the Komets answered three minutes later as Ryan Lowney evened it up 1-1. Jenks solved Komet goaltender Michael Houser again with 46 seconds remaining to give Toledo a 2-1 lead going into the first intermission.

2:01 into the second frame Patrick McCarron gave the Walleye a 3-1 edge before Shawn Szydlowski hit the net 1:20 later to start a barrage of four straight unanswered Fort Wayne goals. Garrett Thompson scored his third goal of the post-season followed by a pair of tallies by Dennis Kravchenko to bury the Walleye 5-3. Kravchenko also added two assists for a four-point night and first star of the game honors.

The Komets out-shot Toledo 36-15. Houser earned his fifth playoff win making 12 saves while netminder Pat Nagle suffered his first loss of the playoffs with 31 saves.

The Komets will skate game 2 today (Sunday) at 5:15pm at the Huntington Center in downtown Toledo. The series switches to Fort Wayne for games 3 and 4 Wednesday at 7:30pm and Friday at 8pm.

2018 ECHL KELLY CUP CENTRAL DIVISION FINALSFORT WAYNE KOMETS VS TOLEDO WALLEYEFort Wayne leads best-of-seven series 1-0

*If necessary. All games on WOWO AM 1190, FM 107.5 and streaming live at www.komets.com.

Kids Seat Free Night Friday, May 4-- The Komets have featured Kids Seat Free Nights all season long and another Kids Seat Free Night is scheduled for Friday, May 4 when the Komets face Toledo in playoff action at the Coliseum courtesy Aunt Millie's, Lutheran Health Network and the Komets. Any child under the age of 12 can see the game for free with a full-priced adult ticket purchase.

Komet playoff tickets-- Tickets for Komet home playoff games 3 and 4 of the second-round series against Toledo are now on sale at the Coliseum ticket office. Season tickets for 2018-19 with special early bird pricing are also on sale a the Komet office at 1010 Memorial Way in Fort Wayne. For more information visit the Komet office, Komets.com or call 260-483-0011.