Fort Wayne, IN-- The Komets edged the Eagles at Colorado Tuesday night 3-2 to even the ECHL best-of-seven Western Conference finals 3-3 and force game 7. The decisive game 7 will faceoff at 9:05pm ET Wednesday night at the Budweiser Events Center in Loveland, Colorado.
Colorado opened the scoring with 58 seconds remaining in the first period to take a 1-0 lead into the first intermission.
Jamie Schaafsma netted the equalizer at 14:13 of the second period before the Eagles regained the lead with Julien Nantel's third marker of the post-season at 18:21. Bobby Shea pulled the Komets even again with 66 seconds remaining in the stanza.
Garrett Thompson scored the only goal of the third frame and eventual game winner at 4:47 to give the Komets game 6 and send the series to Fort Wayne's 14th game 7 in its 67-year history and third while a member of the ECHL. The Komets are 9-4 all-time in game 7's and 1-1 in the ECHL. The last time the Komets were in a game 7 situation was a 2-0 first-round win against Cincinnati in Fort Wayne on April 27, 2016.
Goaltender Michael Houser earned his 10th Fort Wayne win of the playoffs making 20 saves on 22 shots while Colorado's Joe Cannata suffered his fourth loss allowing three goals on 31 shots at the Eagles net.
The winner of the Fort Wayne/Colorado series will face the Florida Everblades in the Kelly Cup Championship finals.
2018 ECHL KELLY CUP WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALSFORT WAYNE KOMETS VS COLORADO EAGLESBest-of-seven series tied 3-3
Game 1- Saturday, May 12............ | Fort Wayne 2 at Colorado 3, OT |
Game 2- Sunday, May 13............... | Fort Wayne 3 at Colorado 2 |
Game 3- Wednesday, May 16........ | Colorado 2 at Fort Wayne 4 |
Game 4- Friday, May 18................. | Colorado 2 at Fort Wayne 1 |
Game 5- Saturday, May 19............ | Colorado 4 at Fort Wayne 3, 2OT |
Game 6- Tuesday, May 22............. | Fort Wayne 3 at Colorado 2 |
Game 7- Wednesday, May 23........ | Fort Wayne at Colorado, 7:05pm MT |
*If necessary. All games on WOWO AM 1190, FM 107.5 and streaming live at www.komets.com.Season tickets for 2018-19 with special early bird pricing are on sale at the Komet office at 1010 Memorial Way in Fort Wayne. For more information visit the Komet office, Komets.com or call 260-483-0011.
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