Komets Win the Fight, Lose the War Against Generals

One night after an impressive beat-down of top rival Muskegon, The Fort Wayne Komets (15-10-0-1) dropped a game to the Flint Generals (10-17-1-2) in Flint, MI early Sunday evening. The Generals got on the board first when, at 12:54 of the opening period, forward Pascal Rheaume scored a power play goal on a deflection in front of the net. Komets forward Colin Chaulk had been whistled for tripping at 11:58, giving Flint the man advantage. It was the only penatly call referee Ryan Hutchinson made during the first period. Defensemen Steve Silver and Brandon Gentile picked up the assists. The Komets evened the score at 8:25 of the second when forward Sean O'Connor got the puck past Flint goalie Rob Nolan just 1 second after a hooking penalty against Gentile had expired. Chaulk and forward Konstantin Shafranov were awarded the helpers on the play. Nolan would be impenatrable for the rest of the way. The Generals regained their lead at 19:36 of the middle frame when forward Nathan Ward picked up a drop pass in front of the net after the Komets failed to clear the puck. Forwards Alec Kirschner and Matt Moffat assisted. In the third period, Flint forward John Mori netted a goal off a backhand shot at 13:23 to make the score 3-1. Silver got the assist. Then at 14:49, forward John Ronan tallied with a wrist shot low on Boucher's stick side from roughly 25 feet out to cap the scoring at 4-1. Gentile picked up the assist. Tempers flaired as the final minutes of the third period ticked down. A fight broke out between Chaulk and Gentile at 17:46, with Chaulk eventually getting the upper hand in the bout. Both picked up 5 for fighting with Chaulk getting an additional 2 minutes for slashing. Then at 19:13 a lesser skirmish occurred between Fort Wayne defenseman Bobby Phillips and Generals forward Rick Smith. They were given coincidental roughing penalties for the display. Nolan stopped 35 of 36 shots for the win. Boucher made 26 saves on 30 shots in absorbing the loss.

Notes: Announced attendance was 1569. The Komets went 0-4 on the power play. Flint was 1-3 with the man advantage. Fort Wayne outshot the Generals 15 to 6 in the second period and 36-30 overall. Flint is 15-8-5-2 at home this season, but only 2-12-1 away from home. Komets forward David Hukalo was unable to play due to a strained back muscle. Forward Tomas Klempa also missed the game due to bad weather preventing his return from a holiday trip to Omaha, Nebraska.