Komets Outlast Mallards 5-3

The Fort Wayne Komets (23-11-0-2) capped another successful weekend by downing the Quad City Mallards (12-16-4-3)on Sunday evening, thanks largely to timely goals by forwards P.C. Drouin and Colin Chaulk. The game got off to a bewildering start when Fort Wayne goalie Tim Haun was run over by a sliding Mallards player. Haun fell to his back, unable to get up immediately, yet referee Dan Rankin allowed play to continue. A few seconds later at the 2:45 mark, with Haun still on his back, Quad City defenseman Kyryll Katrych shot the puck into the undefended net for an unassisted goal, putting the Mallards up 1-0. The Komets were incensed as were the home team's fans, and when another Quad City player nearly slid into Haun again shortly thereafter in the exactly the same manner, tensions were clearly beginning to mount. Fort Wayne evened the score at 5:33 when forward Colin Chaulk collected a rebound and passed the puck to forward Konstantin Shafranov, who was wide open. Forward Matt Syroczynski also picked up an assist. Before that goal had even finished being announced, Komets forward P.C. Drouin gave his team a 2-1 lead with a tap in tally after taking a pass from forward Leo Thomas. Forward Sean O'Connor was awarded the other assist. The Mallards, looking a bit shellshocked to see the momentum of the game shift against them so quickly, fought back -- literally -- with two fights breaking out in less than a minute of each other. At 8:17, defenseman Jason Goulet took on Fort Wayne forward Brad MacMillan. And at 8:55, Katrych dropped the gloves with Komets forward Lincoln Kaleigh Schrock, after a play that resulted in O'Connor being sent to the box for tripping. In the second period, the teams split a pair of power play goals. With Quad City forward Patrick Levesque off for roughing, Drouin netted his second goal of the evening to make the score 3-1. Assists went to Chaulk and defenseman Guy Dupuis. The Mallards countered at 11:13 after Dupuis was called for a slashing penalty. Forward Justin White got a shot past Haun to cut the Komets lead 3-2. Defenseman Shane Lovedahl and forward Juris Stals assisted on the play. For most of the final frame, it seemed as if that was destined to be the final score, but at 15:56 Quad City broke through when Stals took a shot off the boards and put it into the net to tie the game up at 3-3. White and forward Brandon Marino picked up the helpers. With the Komets pressing to regain the lead, Chaulk tipped a shot by Dupuis at 19:08 to make the score 4-3. Syroczynski got the other assist. The Mallards pulled goalie Jerad Haufmann in response, but wound up paying the price when Chaulk found the empty net at 19:59 for his second goal of the night. Assists went to defenseman Danko Mironovic and Syroczynski, his third of the evening. In one final display of message sending, Goulet dropped the gloves with Fort Wayne defenseman Kevin Bertram even as time expired and the win was being announced over the P.A. System. In addition, Levesque was called for roughing after taking out his frustration on Chaulk following the goal. The time of the penalties was later adjusted from 20:00 to 19:59. It took the officals a few minutes to clear the ice afterwards, and there was a clear sense that it might not be the end of hostilities between the two teams. Haun made 34 saves on 37 shots for the victory. Kaufmann stopped 37 of the 41 he faced in absorbing the loss.

Notes: Announced attendance was 8437. The Komets outshot their opponents in all three periods and 42-37 overall. Fort Wayne went 1-4 on the power play while Quad City was 1-3 with the man advantage. The Komets extended their unbeaten in regulation streak to 9 games and claimed their sixth win in a row. It was the third loss in a row for the Mallards after having a 5 game winning streak snapped.