Komets Subdue Mallards 4-1

The Fort Wayne Komets (24-13-0-2) welcomed back a fan-favorite and gave the unusually large crowd of 9359 something new to cheer about by overpowering the struggling Quad City Mallards (13-20-4-3) on Friday night in Fort Wayne, IN. Forward Mitch Woods rejoined the Komets line-up for the first time since the team's Turner Cup win in the spring of 2008, and he was greeted with a loud cheer the first time he stepped onto the ice. Woods had limited ice time, however, as his conditioning is still a work in progress. Despite that fact, he didn't look out of place during the time he did play, and even got an assist on the Komets first goal, which came at 16:07 of the opening frame. Forward Leo Thomas faked Quad City goalie Jared Kaufmann, then skated behind the net for a wraparound goal. Forward Konstantin Shafranov was also awarded an assist. Fans expecting to see Woods drop the gloves might have been disappointed, but a friend Woods made during his time in Cincinnati last season picked up the slack for him less than two minutes before the goal. Forward Matt Syroczynski took on Mallards defenseman Ryan Palmer at 14:21, surprising some in the crowd who had never seen that side of Syroczynski before. With Fort Wayne still nursing their 1-0 lead, Quad City found themselves with a 5-on-3 opportunity early in the second period when defensemen Guy Dupuis and Danko Mironovic took penalties -- interference at 0:30 and hooking at 1:03, respectively. But the Komets were able to successfully kill off the scoring chance, as well as an additional Quad City power play at 4:15 (Thomas for tripping), and found renewed focus in the aftermath. At 15:48, with Quad City forward Ryan Fultz in the box for hooking (4:40), Fort Wayne jumped out to a 2-0 lead when forward P.C. Drouin took a cross ice pass from forward Colin Chaulk and rifled a shot from across the crease past Kaufmann for the power play goal. Shafranov picked up the other assist. The Mallards halved the deficit just 22 seconds later at 16:10, when forward Joel Gasper got the puck past Komets goalie Nick Boucher on a rebound. Assists went to forwards Obi Oduba and Brandon Marino. But the Komets reclaimed their 2 goal edge at 19:35 when Lincoln Kaleigh Schrock jumped on a loose puck in the crease and whacked it under Kaufmann for a 3-1 lead. That score remained unchanged until the final minute of the final frame. With Kaufmann pulled for the extra attacker, Komets forward Brad MacMillan potted the empty net goal at 19:22 for a final count of 4-1. Syroczynski and forward Justin Chwedoruk got the assists on the play. Boucher made 33 saves on 34 shots for the victory. Kaufmann stopped 34 of 37 shots in absorbing the loss.

Notes: The Komets were 1-5 on the power play. Quad City went 0-5 with the man advantage. Fort Wayne defensemen Keith Rodger missed a third straight game following an eye injury he sustained in practice. The Komets placed forward Rick Varone on waivers to make room on the roster for Mitch Woods' return to the team. Varone was picked up by the Flint Generals, who immediately traded him to the Bloomington Prairie Thunder for future considerations. It was the Komets 6th consecutive home win. The Mallards have lost 7 of 8 games. Fort Wayne now leads the season series with Quad City 7-1.