Komets Rally Comes Up Short Against Gems

The Fort Wayne Komets (15-11-0-1) attempted another bold rally in the third period at home Tuesday night versus the Dayton Gems (13-14-3-1), but came up a goal short. The Gems got on the board at 11:59 of the opening frame when forward Dan Lapointe found the net off an assist from forward Matt Auffrey. Dayton forward Jonathan Ornelas picked up a boarding call at 15:38, and Fort Wayne was able to knot the score at 1-1 on the resulting power play. Forward P.C. Drouin put the puck past Gem's goalie Derek MacIntyre with defenseman Guy Dupuis and forward David Hukalo being awarded the helpers on the play. Dayton pulled ahead again in the second period. At 5:15, forward John Snowden netted a power play goal of his own with Drouin in the penalty box for roughing. Forwards Corey Courturier and Tim Hartung picked up the assists. But the Gems were soon in penalty trouble themselves. At 7:43 defenseman Joe Van Culin was whistled for cross-checking, and at 8:57, defenseman Preston Briggs joined him in the box for the same offense, giving the Komets a 5-on-3 power play. At 9:30, Fort Wayne cashed it in when Dupuis tallied to bring the score to 2-2. Hukalo and Drouin were awarded the assists. Dayton began the third period in a big way -- netting 3 consecutive goals. The outburst began at 3:40, when Ornelas put a shot past Komets goalie Nick Boucher, restoring Dayton's lead. Forwards Sam Bloom and Mike Vaskivuo assisted. Just 16 seconds later, Snowden got his second goal of the evening on a breakaway off an assist from Courturier to make it a 4-2 contest. A fight broke out at 6:07 between forward Brad MacMillan for the increasingly frustrated Komets and Gem's forward Derek Parker. But even that didn't go as hoped when both received 5 minute fighting majors but MacMillan was also given a game misconduct and removed from the game for taking off his elbow pads prior to the bout. At 8:16, Auffrey netted what would be the game winning goal on another breakaway, bringing the tally to 5-2, with an assist going to Lapointe. The Komets showed their character by attempting to get back into the game, regardless. At 16:07, forward Lincoln Kaleigh Shrock broke through thanks to assists from defensemen Keith Rodger and Brandon Warner. At 17:36, forward Leo Thomas got Fort Wayne within 1, making the comeback seem suddenly more likely. Rodger and Dupuis had the assists. But with the clock running down, the Komets had little choice but to pull Boucher for the extra attacker, and the Gems dashed their hopes at 19:27 when Vaskivuo put a shot into the empty net. Assists went to Coururier and Hartung. At the same time, Thomas was whistled for elbowing, effectively putting the final nail in the Komets defeat. Boucher stopped 14 of 19 shots in the loss. MacIntyre made 32 saves on the 36 shots he faced for the win.

Notes: Announced attendance was 7903 for the first Komets home game after the Christmas break. Fort Wayne outshot Dayton in all three periods with 36 to 20 SOG. The Komets were 2 for 5 on the power play. The Gems went 1-3 with the extra man. With the loss, the Komets have lost 2 in a row and 3 of their last 4 games. With the win, the Gems snapped a 3 game losing streak and moved within 1 point of the 4th place Komets in the IHL standings. Prior to the win, they had lost 6 of their last 7 games. Forward Tomas Klempa returned to the Komets line-up after missing 2 games due to bad weather in Omaha, Nebraska, where he had traveled for the holidays. Forwad David Hukalo was also back in the line-up after missing a game due to a back muscle strain. Forward Colin Chaulk missed the first of 3 games following a death in his family.