Komets Trample Prairie Thunder 4-1

It was the Fort Wayne's Komets (35-16-1-2) final trip of the 2009-2010 regular season to Bloomington, IL to play the Bloomington Prairie Thunder (25-23-2-5) in the U.S. Cellular Coliseum, so they made a few more fond memories before waving goodbye. Fort Wayne forward P.C. Drouin got his team on the board at 10:17 of the first period when he broke up a play in the Komets zone, picked up the loose puck, and had a breakaway up ice. Drouin slid underneath the only Bloomington defenseman between him and the net, putting the defender on his back, before beating Prairie Thunder goalie Sebastian Dahm 5-hole for the 1-0 lead. Fort Wayne was handed a brief 5-on-3 power play a few minutes later when Bloomington forward Bill Bagron was whistled for high sticking at 13:02 and his teammate, defenseman Matthew Spiller was sent off for hooking at 14:29. Komets forward Colin Chaulk was already in the box for slashing as of 12:54, so initially it was a 4-on-3, but just 2 seconds after Chaulk's penalty expired, Fort Wayne broke through again with a well-executed play that began with a pass from forward Sean O'Connor in the corner. The puck went to Drouin and then to defenseman Guy Dupuis, who hammered it home to extend the lead to 2-0. Drouin's assist on the play was the 500th of his career. The Prairie Thunder had several excellent chances of their own in the opening frame, but failed to capitalize on any of them. Fort Wayne goalie Nick Boucher had a couple of key giveaways while trying to help his own defense. Bagron was awarded a penalty shot at 16:19 due to a Komets player closing his hand over the puck, but Bagron missed the net. And they squandered a 4-on-3 man advantage late in the period when Fort Wayne defenseman Danko Mironovic and Bloomington forward Robin Gomez were both called for roughing at 16:57, just before Komets forward Matt Syroczynski joined them in the sin bin for slashing at 17:38. The Prairie Thunder's luck didn't improve much in the second period. There was a fight at the 8:40 mark between Fort Wayne forward Lincoln Kaleigh Schrock and former Komets defenseman Brian Boulay. In addition to their coincidental fighting majors, Schrock picked up an additional 2 minutes for slashing and Boulay was handed 2 minutes for roughing. Fort Wayne defenseman Kevin Bertram was then whistled for interference just 8 seconds later, giving Bloomington a lengthy 4-on-3 which went nowhere. Referee Craig Welker gave the Prairie Thunder one more chance at 11:20 when he decided to send Komets forward Brad MacMillan off for roughing. This time, Bloomington cashed it in. Gomez fired a shot past Boucher at 13:09 to cut the deficit to 2-1. Assists went to forward Jamie Carroll and defenseman Jason Lepine. At 15:01 there were more fisticuffs, though this time, they were deemed to be merely roughing, as MacMillan briefly tangled with Prairie Thunder defenseman Cole Ruwe. With Bloomington pressing for the tying goal, it was Fort Wayne defenseman Bobby Phillips who gave the Komets some much needed breathing room, restoring their 2-goal lead at 17:00. Phillips skated up the left side, and Drouin threaded a pass to him across the slot that Phillips then one-timed past Dahm for a 3-1 count to end the period. The final frame was a hard-fought back and forth affair on both ends of the ice, including an almost disastrous giveaway in front of his own net by Chaulk. But the Komets held firm, and at the 16:08 mark they were finally able to put the contest out of reach. Syroczynski found the twine when he rifled a rebound by Dahm to cap the scoring at 4-1, effectively putting out the Prairie Thunder's fire for the night. Chaulk and Schrock were awarded the assists. Boucher had 26 saves on 27 shots for the win. Dahm stopped 24 of the 28 shots he faced in absorbing the loss. The Komets extended both their overall winning streak and their road winning streak to 6 games with the victory. They will face Bloomington one more time on Wednesday, March 10 in Fort Wayne, IN.

Notes: Announced attendance was 2942. The Komets were 1 for 4 on the power play. The Prairie Thunder went 1 for 6. Bloomington outshot the Komets 11-7 in both the first and third periods, but was outshot by Fort Wayne overall 28-27. Drouin's assist on Phillips goal gives him a current total of 501 for his career. Komets forward Leo Thomas returned to action after missing 1 game due to a sore knee, but forward Konstantin Shafranov did not accompany the team on the road trip because of the flu. Bloomington has now lost 2 games in a row. Fort Wayne leads the season series with the Prairie Thunder 8-3.