Short-Handed Komets Lose to Flint in Shootout

The Fort Wayne Komets (17-11-0-2) wrapped up a stretch of 6 games in 8 nights with a loss to the Flint Generals (11-17-1-3) in Flint, MI on Saturday night, but still picked up a point in the standings to show for their efforts. The game was a back-and-forth, hard fought affair which began with the Komets getting on the scoreboard first thanks to a short-handed, unassisted goal by forward Leo Thomas. With forward Brad MacMillan in the box for holding, Thomas ripped a shot high, glove-side past Flint goalie Rob Nolan for a 1-0 lead. But the Generals fought back at 7:50 after a Fort Wayne defensive lapse resulted in forward John Ronan backhanding a rebound into the net to tie it up. Forward Pascal Rheaume picked up the assist. In the middle frame, The Komets took a 2-1 lead at 10:31 when forward Konstantin Shafranov scored from in front of the net on a well executed play set up by Thomas. At 18:19 of the period, Flint made it a brand new game once again by taking advantage of a Fort Wayne miscue just inside the blue line. Forward John Mori tucked in the rebound goal for the 2-2 tie. Assists went to former Komet defenseman Jake Pence and forward Ben Boudreau, son of Washington Capital's coach Bruce Boudreau. The third period was primarily a defensive battle, with Flint and Fort Wayne managing only 4 shots on goal a side, but the battle spilled over to an actual fight at 11:08 when MacMillan took on Generals defenseman Brandon Gentile. The game remained tied into a fruitless overtime, setting the stage for the shootout. After Ronan and Shafranov came up empty, Flnt forward Jamie Schaafsma put a shot past Komets goalie Tim Haun to give the Generals the edge. Thomas was thwarted on the next attempt, which allowed Rheume to seal the victory when he found the twine by going 5-hole. Haun stopped 27 of 29 shots prior to the shootout. Nolan made 30 saves on 32 shots plus 2 stops in the shootout for the victory. With the win, Flint has prevailed against the Komets in each of their last two meetings.

Notes: Announced attendance was 1935. Both the Komets and Generals were stymied on the power play, with Fort Wayne going 0-4 and Flint going 0-5. It was the first time in 4 games that the Komets did not have a power play goal. The Komets are 8-8-0-1 on the road this season. Fort Wayne was missing several players from their line-up, including forward and assistant coach Colin Chaulk, who had not yet returned from a trip to Toronto to attend the funeral of a family member. Also missing from the line-up were defenseman Brandon Warner (sick), forward Rick Varone (knee), and forward Blair Stayzer (concussion).