Komets sweep weekend

Fort Wayne, IN – The Komets continue their win streak with another perfect weekend. With road wins over Indy and Wheeling, the team has now won seven in a row and 10 out of their last 11. The Komets are now 10-1-2-1, with a winning percentage of 0.812 as they sit atop the league standings. The six-game road trip continues next weekend with three games in North Charleston, South Carolina versus the Stingrays.  

Last week’s results 

Thu 3/11 @ Indy FW 2 – Indy 1 W

Fri 3/12 @ Wheeling FW 3 – WHL 2 OTW

Sat 3/13 @ Wheeling FW 3 – WHL 2 W

About last week-- Thursday, the Komets traveled to Indy for the fifth time this season, coming away with a 2-1 victory. Rookie Stephen Harper assisted on both Komet goals, from AJ Jenks at the 2:21 mark of the second period and the eventual game winner from defenseman Olivier Galipeau in the third period. Blake Siebenaler would also contribute a helper, while goaltender Stefanos Lekkas picked up the win making 24 saves.  

Friday night, the Komets rolled back into Wheeling, West Virginia for the first time since February 13th. Veteran Justin Vaive would give the Komets the lead 6:29 into the first period.  After a scoreless second frame, Jason Cotton would score his third of the season at 3:01 of the third period to give the Komets a 2-0 lead. The Nailers would erase the deficit with scores later in the period to force overtime. In the extra frame, Brandon Hawkins would net his fifth of the season on a power play at 2:14 to give the Komets the win.  Stefano Lekkas would stop 23 shots on the way to the victory. 

The weekend concluded Saturday night with another 3-2 Komets win over the Nailers.  Wheeling would score first, but goals from Justin Vaive and Jason Cotton would give the Komets the lead after twenty minutes of play.  The Nailers would tie the score at the 3:38 mark of the second period. The teams would stay deadlocked until 19:24 of the second period when Stephen Harper would give the Komets the lead for good with his third goal of the season.  Wheeling would be limited to just 21 shots on Komets netminder Louis-Phillip Guindon while the Komets would generate a season high 48 shots on goal. 

For the week-- Olivier Galipeau and Stephen Harper both finished with a goal and three assists. Brandon Hawkins had a three-point week (1g, 2a), while AJ Jenks (1g, 1a), Justin Vaive (2g), Zach Pochiro (2a), Anthony Petruzzelli (2a) and Jason Cotton (2g) would contribute two points each. Blake Siebenaler would also dish one assist for the week.  Goaltender Stefanos Lekkas added two more wins to his total, while making 49 saves and finishing the week with a .940 save percentage. Louis-Phillip Guindon would win his only start of the week making 19 saves. 

Special K's--The Komets streak of 25 straight penalty kills ended Thursday night in the first period at Indy. The penalty killers would eventually go 11 of 12 for the weekend keeping the Komets at the top of the league rankings killing off 91.7 percent this season.  The Komets also have the top power play unit going 3 of 12 last weekend.  

Komet streaks-- The Komets have won seven straight and five straight on the road.  Anthony Petruzzelli has a five-game home point streak.  Olivier Galipeau has points in the past three games (1g, 2a). Jason Cotton, Justin Vaive and Brandon Hawkins have goals over the last two games. Goaltender Stefanos Lekkas has gained wins in his last four games, while Louis-Phillip Guindon has won his last three starts.

Komet leaders-- Anthony Petruzzelli, Matt Boudens, Justin Vaive, Olivier Galipeau and Blake Siebenaler have appeared in all 14 games this season.  Petruzzelli leads the team with 15 points (5g, 10a).  Olivier Galipeau is tied with Petruzzelli for the team lead with 10 assists.  Zach Pochiro has eight goals and leads the team with a +10 rating.  Morgan Adams-Moisan leads the team with 27 penalty minutes.  Stefanos Lekkas has six wins with a GAA of 1.96.

Roster moves-- Goaltender Stefanos Lekkas has been loaned to Rochester of the AHL.  Lekkas, has a record of 6-1-1 with a GAA of 1.96 and a save percentage of .920 this season.  Forward Stelio Mattheos has been recalled to Chicago after playing three games with the Komets without registering a point. 

Icing the puck-- The last time the Komets won seven consecutive games was November 27th - December 13th 2014. The team has gained points in 11 straight contests, the longest such streak since the club earned points in 13 straight games January 27th – February 27th 2018.  The Komets only have one regulation loss. The overtime win Friday night was the team’s first this season. The team is 7-0-2 when leading after one period.  The Komets lead the ECHL in shots allowed per game at 23.57. Seven times this season the Komets have held their opponent to under 25 shots in a game and have the top defense in the league giving up just 2.14 goals per game. The Komets have only been outshot three times going 1-0-2 in those contests.  

This week, the Komets will travel to South Carolina for the first time since March of 2014 to take on the Stingrays Friday, Saturday and Sunday.