Komets Best Mallards 8-4

The Fort Wayne Komets (48-21-1-3) celebrated an old favorite -- forward Konstantin Shafranov -- by shooting down one of the IHL's new teams, the Quad City Mallards (28-35-4-7), on Sunday night. News broke on Saturday night that Sunday would be Shafranov's last game as a Komet, because he would be leaving the following week to prepare for the World Hockey Championships to be held in Germany in May, where he would be representing his native country, Kazakhstan. After the championships, the 41-year-old Shafranov, who played with the Komets for 7 seasons starting in 1995-1996 when he was named "IHL Rookie of the Year", will retire. Though a relatively small crowd of 6118 was on hand for the game, Shafranov was given a standing ovation that lasted the entirety of the pre-game tribute announcement that was made in his honor, frequently drowning it out. The ordinarily low-key Shafranov seemed taken aback by the outpouring of affection, saluting the crowd as he took his place in the opening line-up. The emotion of the night seemed to energize Fort Wayne's players throughout the first period, and just 13 seconds after the puck was dropped, Shafranov had his first assist of the evening. He earned it by carrying the puck up the right wing before backhanding a pass through traffic onto the stick of forward Matt Syroczynski, who one-timed it into the top of the net for the 1-0 lead. Forward Colin Chaulk was also awarded an assist. At 11:43, forward Sean O'Connor stretched the advantage to 2-0 when he got a shot past Mallards goalie Jared Kaufmann. Assists went to forwards P.C. Drouin and Leo Thomas. Quad City finally struck back 13 seconds later at 11:56 when forward Aaron Spotts cut the deficit to 2-1 on a breakaway. But the Komets got that one back just over a minute later at 12:58 when Syroczynski scored his second goal of the night to make the tally 3-1 Shafranov and Chaulk both picked up their second assists of the evening. At the 16:38 mark, Fort Wayne forward David Hukalo found the net to make the count 4-1. Forward Justin Chwedoruk and defenseman Frankie DeAngelis picked up the assists on the play. Then at 17:01, Spotts was sent to the box by referee Curtis Marouelli for tripping, and the Komets cashed in on that opportunity as well. Syroczynski complete his hat trick at 17:46 of the opening period to extend the lead to 5-1. A smattering of hats hit the ice in response, as many fans had only just found their way to their seats at that point. Chaulk and defenseman Guy Dupuis were credited with the assists. That ended the night for the beleaguered Kaufmann, who left the game with 8 saves on 13 shots. He was relieved by Kyle Jones the rest of the way. The middle frame settled down into a defensive battle. At 9:45, DeAngelis was whistled for hooking, putting the Mallards on the power play. At 10:29 they made the most of it when a shot by defenseman Jacques Perreault hit the twine to cut the lead to 5-2. Defenseman Shane Lovdahl and forward Addison DeBoer got the assists. Things began to heat up again in the third period as Fort Wayne's defense grew a bit lax. At the 2:37 mark, Mallards forward Chris Lipsett got a breakaway that pulled Quad City to within striking distance at 5-3. The play was assisted by defenseman Tyler Kindle. Suddenly, the healthy lead the Komets had built up in the first period no longer seemed all that healthy. At 6:27, Drouin found the net to make the tally 6-3. Dupuis and Thomas picked up the helpers. But the Mallards countered again at 7:59, cutting the advantage to 6-4 when forward Juris Stals tallied on another breakaway off a set up by forward Patrick Levesque. Finally getting the message, Fort Wayne clamped down defensively for the rest of the way, and Quad City could draw no closer. At 16:59 Komets forward Lincoln Kaleigh Schrock scored on a breakaway of his own after taking a pass from Hakalo to give Fort Wayne a 7-4 edge. With a couple of minutes remaining, the Mallards pulled Jones for an additional attacker in a last ditch effort to keep their hopes of making the playoffs alive, but the attempt was in vain. The Komets, eager to send Shafranov off with a goal, got the puck to him for an anticipated empty net goal. But Shafranov's shot went high, flying well over the cross bar. At the same moment, Fort Wayne defenseman Kevin Bertram was sent off for hooking, giving the Mallards a 6-4 advantage with the extra attacker. Sentimentality would have to wait. At 18:59, Dupuis accomplished what Shafranov had been unable to do. He intercepted the puck and flipped a shot from near center ice towards the empty goal. The puck landed and neatly slid into the open net, capping the scoring at 8-4. As time expired, Shafranov was named the third "star" of the game, and in a change of tradition, all three "stars" were given a brief on-ice interview, beginning with Shafranov. The crowd offered heartfelt applause yet again as Shafranov skated around the ice one last time to salute the fans. Finally, the players retreated to the locker room, where the celebration no doubt continued. During the free family skate after the game, Shafranov was spotted taking turns around the rink with his adult daughter, looking decidedly museful. Boucher stopped 33 of 37 shots for the victory. Jones finished with 15 saves on the 17 shots he faced in relief.

Notes: Fort Wayne went 1 for 2 on the power play. Quad City was 1 for 4. The Mallards outshot the Komets 11-6 in the second, 16-12 in the third, and 37-31 overall. Fort Wayne extended its winning streak to 5 games while clinching home ice advantage through the first round of the Turner Cup playoffs, though their hopes of catching the first place Muskegon Lumberjacks dimmed as Muskegon notched another victory of their own over the Flint Generals 7-4. The loss snapped the Mallards' 3-game winning streak. Fort Wayne won the season series with Quad City, currently leading 11 games to 2 with 2 games remaining. The teams next meet on Friday, April 16 in Moline, IL. Missing the game for the Komets were forward Brad MacMillan (shoulder), goalie Tim Haun (concussion), and defenseman Bobby Phillips (undisclosed upper body injury). During the second intermission, Ashrie Onion won a car -- a Monte Carlo SS -- from Instant Auto Finance in the Kroger/Scotts "Chuck-A-Puck" promotion.