Komets hit the road in second place

Fort Wayne, IN – After two more road wins last week, the Komets will embark on a seven-game road trip starting this Friday in Wheeling. The club enters the week with the most road wins in the Central Division with 18 and currently occupies second place with a mark of 34-18-5-0 for 73 points with 15 games remaining in the regular season.

ECHL STANDINGS

Last week’s results 

Wed. 3/5 at Bloomington FW 4 – BLM 3 W

Fri. 3/7 at Indy FW 2 – IND 1 SOW

Sun. 3/9 vs Kalamazoo FW 0 – KAL 3 L

About last week – 

The Komets played a morning game on Wednesday in Bloomington and defeated the Bison 4-3.

Kyle Mayhew started the scoring in the first period with his 10th goal at 7:48, with an assist credited to Justin Taylor. The Bison got even when Thomas Stewart scored at 14:06, which was followed by a Danny Katic score at 16:25 to give Bloomington a 2-1 lead heading into the first intermission. 

The Komets struck first in the second period as Zach Jordon scored his first goal as a Komet at 7:26 to tie the game, but the Bison grabbed the lead back with a goal at 13:19 to make it  3-2 after two periods.

In the third period, Mayhew netted his second of the contest on a power play at :39 to tie the match. With time winding down, Jack Dugan took advantage of a Bloomington turnover and scored his 18th of the season for the eventual game-winning goal at 14:39 Brett Brochu made 27 saves for the win.

GAME SHEET

Friday night the Komets went to Fishers and once again defeated the Fuel 2-1 in a shootout.

The Komets spent most of the first period in their defensive zone as the Fuel struck first at 7:23 when Kyle Maksimovich scored his 12th of the season. The intensity of the period increased as the clock ticked down. At 1:41, Captain Jack Dugan was clipped and Nick Deakin-Poot answered the bell and fought Chris Cameron. The coincidental fighting majors marked the only penalties of the period.

In the second period, Indy's Kale Howarth went off for slashing at 7:48 and the Komets retaliated with the tying goal. Jack Dugan buried his 19th of the season over the shoulder of goaltender Ben Gaudreau with Kyle Mayhew getting his 40th assist and Alex Aleardi also adding a helper.

The third period saw both teams getting chances, but neither broke the deadlock leading to overtime.

After skating short-handed twice in the extra frame, the Komets force the contest into a shootout leading to Justin Taylor netting the game-winner in the sixth round. Brett Brochu made 43 saves in the win.

GAME SHEET

On Sunday, the Komets faced Kalamazoo at the Coliseum and fell to the Wings 3-0.

After a scoreless first period, Kalamazoo's Quinn Preston scored on a power-play at :57 for the period's only score. The Komets outshot the Wings 16-5 in the period. 

In the third period, Kalamazoo's Josh Bloom netted his 12th goal at 11:06 and followed it with an empty-net goal at 17:37 to seal the win. Conner Ungar took the loss, making 22 saves.

GAME SHEET

Komet streaks— 

Road Points: Dugan, 8 games (5g, 10a), Mayhew, 2 games (2g, 1a) 

Wins (goaltender): 4, Brochu

Komet leaders—

Points: 62 – Dugan (19g, 43a)

Goals: 20 – Aleardi

Assists: 43 – Dugan

Power Play Goals: 7 – Dugan

Short-Handed Goals: 1 – Gorniak, Keppen, Taylor

Game Winning Goals: 7 – Aleardi

Shots: 167 – Aleardi

PIM: 111 – Dugan

Plus/Minus: +20– Brady

Home Points: 31 – Dugan

Home Goals: 12– Aleardi

Home Assists: 24 – Mayhew

Road Points: 31 – Dugan

Road Goals: 10 – Keppen

Road Assists: 22 – Dugan

Goaltenders

Appearances: 31 – Brochu

Wins: 18 – Brochu

Saves: 914 - Brochu

Goals against Avg: 2.51 - Brochu

Save percentage: .922 - Brochu

Shutouts: 2, Ungar

Special K’s—The Komets skated short-handed 11 times last week, giving up two goals while scoring two power-play goals on five chances.

Next week – The Komets will travel to Wheeling for games on Friday and Saturday. The team will be at Indy on Sunday.

Icing the puck –  The Komets are 3-0 in shootouts and have the most road wins in the Central Division. The Komets are 7-4-1 all-time in morning games. This week’s matchup with Wheeling will be last two non-divisional games of the season. Kyle Mayhew noticed his 50^th point in Wednesday’s win at Bloomington and leads the league in scoring among defenseman (11g, 40a). The last Komet defenseman to reach 50 points in a season was Mario Larocque (67), and Guy Dupuis (76) during the 2006-2007 season. The Komets have scored 187 goals this season with 73 being scored in the third period the most in the league. Jack Dugan is tied for league lead with 43 assists. Brett Brochu is third in the league with 914 saves. The Komets are second in the league in attendance averaging 8,048 fans per game. 

Upcoming Promotions

Sunday, March 29:  Be our guest for Princess Night!  Meet some of your favorite Princesses before the game courtesy of Kid to Kid and TAG Art Company! Fans that come dressed as a prince or princess can join in on our on-ice Princess Parade!

Report Card Night presented by 3Rivers:  "A" students can get a FREE ticket to the game courtesy of 3Rivers!  Show your report card at the Memorial Coliseum Ticket Office with an “A” or “A-Equivalent” on it and receive a free ticket to this game! 

See Komets Schedule  See Komets Roster 

Komet hockey on WXKE — Fans can follow the action with Shane Albahrani broadcasting play-by-play on 96.3 WKXE. Game broadcasts are also streamed live at Komets.com. 

Get Komet Tickets — Tickets are available for all Komet home games at the Memorial Coliseum ticket office and Ticketmaster.com.