Komets Trample Prairie Thunder 6-2

The Fort Wayne Komets (22-11-0-2) extended their winning streak to 5 games, defeating the Bloomington Prairie Thunder (14-14-2-4) on Saturday night in Bloomington, IL. The Komets drew first blood when forward Colin Chaulk got his own rebound and put it past Bloomington goalie Sebastian Dahm for a 1-0 lead. Forward Konstantin Shafranov and defenseman Brandon Warner were credited with the assists. Fort Wayne doubled its lead to 2-0 just 1:57 into the middle frame when Lincoln Kaleigh Schrock found the net after coming off the right wing. Defenseman Frankie DeAngelis picked up an assist on the play. At 6:02 of the second, a fight broke out between Komets forward Brad MacMillan and Prairie Thunder defenseman Justin Sawyer when Komets defenseman Matt Woodard was whistled for slashing. The altercation did little to motivate Bloomington's bench, however, and at 10:03 Fort Wayne forward a shot by Fort Wayne forward P.C. Drouin hit the twine to stretch the lead to 3-0. Helpers were awarded to forward Leo Thomas and defenseman Kevin Bertram. The Prairie Thuder finally got on the board at 13:37 with a shot from forward Craig MacDonald, cutting the Komets lead to 3-1. Defensemen Matt Frick and Jason Lepine assisted. But Fort Wayne restored their 3 point lead at 18:17 when Shafranov potted a goal to make the count 4-1. Chaulk and DeAngelis picked up the assists. The Komets continued to roll in the third period, as Schrock scored his second goal of the evening at the 1:53 mark with assistance from Warner and Bertram to make the lead 5-1. Thomas extended that to 6-1 at 7:17 with assists going to Drouin and defenseman Guy Dupuis. Bloomington managed to tally once more at 8:40 after Shafranov had the puck taken away from him. Forward Bill Bagron's shot beat Fort Wayne goalie Nick Boucher to cap the scoring at 6-2. Defenseman Noel Coultice and forward Nick Peluso picked up the assists. There was a fight at 11:09, as Peluso took on Bertram. Both picked up fighting majors, but the incident had little effect on the remainder of the game. Fort Wayne players were whistled for three penalties in the second half of the final frame, including forward Matt Syroczynski being sent to the box at 17:51 for unwhittingly playing with a broken stick, but the Prairie Thunder were unable to capitalize on any of the resulting man advantages. Boucher had 41 saves on 43 shots for the victory. Dahm stopped 26 of 32 for the loss.

Notes: Announced attendance was 3073. Fort Wayne went 0-3 on the power play. Bloomington was 0-7. The Komets were outshoot 21-12 in the third period and 43-32 overall. It was the fouth game in a row in which Fort Wayne was outshot by their opponent. With the win, the Komets were unbeaten in regulation for an 8 game stretch. The Prairie Thunder extended their losing steak to 9 games.