Komets home win streak reaches five

Fort Wayne, IN – The Komets pushed their home winning streak to five games after taking down Wheeling at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum Friday night. The team then brought home another win at Wheeling on Saturday, then concluded the weekend with a come from behind overtime win at Indy on Sunday.  After the wins, the team now leads the league with a .694 winning percentage with a record of 23-9-3-1. The Komets will travel to Indy Tuesday night before hosting the Fuel Friday and Saturday.

Last week’s results 

Fri 4/30 vs Wheeling  FW 3 – WHL 1 W 

Sat 5/1 at Wheeling FW 6 – WHL 2 W

Sun 5/2 at Indy FW 5  – INDY 4 OTW

About last week-- Goaltender Trevor Gorsuch made his Komets debut Friday getting the victory over the Wheeling Nailers, making 20 saves.  Alan Lyszczarczyk would score the first goal of the game on a Komets power play at 10:37 of the first period. The Nailers would get a goal at 2:44 of the second to tie the game. In the third, Anthony Petruzzelli and Mathieu Brodeur would find the back of the net, making the final score 3-1.  Olivier Galipeau, Shawn Szydlowski, Oliver Cooper, Nick Boka, and Justin Vaive all registered assists.

Saturday night, the Komets traveled to Wheeling for the final time this season and skated away with a 6-2 victory.  Wheeling’s Jesse Lees would score on a power play at 3:29 of the first period, followed by a power play goal from the Komets Alan Lyszczarczyk at 6:05 to tie the score.  Stephen Harper and Jackson Leef would also light the lamp to give the Komets a 3-1 lead at the end of the first period.  In the second, a pass from Shawn Szydlowski would find the stick of Randy Gazzola for the defenseman’s third goal of the season and giving Szydlowski his third assist of the game at 18:28.  Wheeling would score a late goal at 19:24 to make it 4-2 game at the end of the second period.  Lyszczarczyk would get his second goal of the night at 2:04 of the third, followed by Morgan Adams-Moisan netting his sixth of the season at 19:15.  Trevor Gorsuch made is second consecutive start making 29 saves.

The Komets traveled to Indy to battle the Fuel on Sunday.  After a scoreless first period, Indy’s Nick Hutchinson scored a power play goal just 1:49 into the second period. The Komets would even the score at 7:06 when Anthony Nellis scored his eighth goal of the season.  Indy would retake the lead on another power play at 11:46 to give the Fuel the lead heading into the 3rd period.  Indy would add to their lead with a shorthanded goal at 1:26 before Nellis would cut into the Indy lead with his second goal of the game at 3:02.  Indy again would push the lead up to two with another power play goal at 8:27. Alan Lyszczarczyk scored at 10:16 with assists from Nellis and Nick Boka to make the lead one.  Down by a goal, Komets starting goaltender Robbie Beydoun would be pulled for an extra skater.  Defenseman Matt Murphy would tie the game at 19:39 to send the game to overtime.  In the extra frame, the two teams would skate a full six minutes when rookie Stephen Harper beat Indy goaltender Dan Bakala to give the Komets the 5-4 victory. Nellis assisted on the game winning goal to give him a four-point game.  Robbie Beydoun gained the win, making 24 saves. 

For the week— Shawn Szydlowski was credited with five assists last week in three games played.  Alan Lyszczarczyk scored four goals, while Anthony Nellis would also conclude the week with four points (2g, 2a).  Defenseman Nick Boka added three assists.  Marco Roy, Anthony Petruzzelli, Olivier Galipeau, Oliver Cooper, Blake Siebenaler, Stephen Harper, and Connor Corcoran would all have two points.  Justin Vaive would add an assist, while Mathieu Brodeur, Matt Murphy, Jackson Leef, Morgan Adams-Moisan and Randy Gazzola all scored one goal.  Goaltender Trevor Gorsuch put up two wins giving up two goals on 52 shots and a save percentage of .942. Robbie Beydoun won his only start giving up four goals on 28 shots.              

Special K's— Last week, the Komets scored three power play goals on 12 advantages.  The club skated short-handed nine times, giving up four power play goals.  The Komets lead the league in power play efficiency at 28.2 percent.  The team is number one in the league killing off penalties at home and third overall in the league.

Komet streaks— Goaltender Robbie Beydoun has won 4 straight games, Shawn Szydlowski has points in the last 5 home games and has an assist in the last 3 games.  Alan Lyszczarczyk has scored goals in three straight games.

Komet leaders—

Points:  Hawkins 31

Goals:   Hawkins 19

Assists: Szydlowski 22

PP goals: Hawkins 10

SH goals: Smallman 3

GW goals:  Petruzzelli 4

Shots: Hawkins 126

PIM: Adams-Moisan 76

+/- : Petruzzelli +14

Milestones– Shawn Szydlowski is now 12th on the Komets all-time assist list passing Ron Leef. Szydlowski has 289 career assists as a Komet.  Szydlowski is also currently tied with Norm Waslawski for 15th on the Komets all-time points list with 464. 

Game rescheduled—The Komets home game versus the Florida Everblades that was scheduled for May 2nd now has been rescheduled to Wednesday, May 12th versus the Wheeling Nailers at the Coliseum starting at 7:35 p.m.  All tickets for May 2nd will be honored on May 12th. 

Ted Wright passes-- The Fort Wayne Komet organization lost one of the all-time greats over the weekend. Ted Wright passed away in South Carolina at the age of 82.  Wright played seven seasons with the Komet organization and was also the teams coach during the ‘73-‘74 and ‘74-‘75 seasons. Ted was born in Sudbury, Ontario, but made Fort Wayne his home after his hockey career, where he and his wife Betty raised their family. Known for his rugged play, Wright wore the Komet orange and black for seven seasons, scoring 90 goals in his career as a winger and defensemen. Wright also accumulated over 500 penalty minutes as a Komet, and was a member of the 1962-1963 and 1964-65 Komet Turner Cup Championship teams.

“Teddy’s friends and family attended the Komets games last month in South Carolina.  We spent time with him over the three games,” said Komets General Manager David Franke. “After the last game not knowing if we would see him again, his parting words were, “those were the best of times when I played in Fort Wayne.” 

Wright was inducted into the Komets Hall of Fame in 2002. 

Icing the puck— Sunday was the second time this season the Komets have scored a game tying goal inside of 20 seconds left in regulation.  Both games were against the Fuel and resulted in overtime wins for the Komets.  Trevor Gorsuch is the sixth goaltender to see time for the Komets this season.  Six times this season the Komets have scored six or more goals in a game.  11 times this season a Komets player has scored two goals in a game and 13 times a player has had three or more points in a game. Goaltender Robbie Beydoun won his fourth start as a Komet on Sunday, less than 24 hours after winning his first AHL game on Saturday with the Iowa Wild. The Komets now have a plus 17 goal differential in the third period.  The Komets have the top offense in the league, scoring 3.67 goals per game.

This week, the Komets will play at Indy on Tuesday.  The Fuel will come to Fort Wayne for a pair of games Friday and Saturday.  The team is 10-3 at home this season and 10-3-1 versus Indy.