Komets Crush Gems 6-2

Coming off another tough loss, this time in Flint, MI, the Fort Wayne Komets (43-20-1-3) must have been more than happy to welcome their favorite whipping boys, the Dayton Gems (25-42-3-1) to the Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, IN on an unusually balmy Thursday night. The Komets did not allow the beautiful weather and high of 82 degrees to be a foolish distraction for their April Fool's Day match-up. They took the Gems seriously all the same. That was a good thing, especially in the opening frame when their sluggish play could have put them in the hole early had it not been for the hard work of Fort Wayne goalie Nick Boucher, who made several good saves to keep the contest scoreless. Both teams seemed to spend most of the first period just getting their legs under them, but things heated up quickly in the second. Just 47 seconds into the middle frame, referee Dan Rankin called his first and only Dayton penalty, sending defenseman Nathan Oke off for hooking. During the resulting power play, Komets forward Sean O'Connor, who was positioned along the right boards, sent the puck back to forward David Hukalo just inside the blue line. Hukalo put a shot on goal that was stopped by Gems goalie Derek MacIntyre, but the puck bounced directly to forward Leo Thomas at the left corner of the crease, and he quickly put it into the open left side of the net for the 1-0 lead at 2:29. At 2:43 -- just 14 seconds later -- Fort Wayne extended the lead to 2-0 after defenseman Frankie DeAngelis went for the puck behind the Dayton goal. After beating Gems defenseman Matt Szypura, DeAngelis sent a centering pass out front to forward Justin Chwedoruk, who was crashing the net. Chwedoruk shoveled it in just before the net was dislodged by Dayton defenseman Greg Labenski, but the goal counted. A second assist on the play went to defenseman Brandon Warner. At 11:18 the Gems were able to cut the deficit in half by taking advantage of the Komets apparent inability to clear the puck from their own zone. Forward Greg McCauley deflected the puck past Boucher to for a 2-1 count. Defensemen Todd Spencer and Russell Smith picked up the assists. But at 14:10, Fort Wayne forward P.C. Drouin was battling with Dayton defenseman Todd Spencer in the back left corner behind the net when Spencer briefly fell down. Drouin took advantage of his delay by skating the puck back up the boards a few feet and threading a centering pass to O'Connor at the top of the crease. O'Connor's shot was blocked, but the puck bounced out front where it was pounced on by Hukalo. Hukalo then stuffed the rebound into the open left side of the net from roughly 5 feet out to make the score 3-1 heading into the second intermission. Only two penalties were called in the third period, and both were on Komets team captain Guy Dupuis. He took a high sticking penalty at the 56 second mark and a hooking call at 7:00. But Fort Wayne was playing with determination and confidence and managed to turned the latter situation into a positive. At 8:48 Thomas set up Drouin for a short-handed breakaway, and Drouin skated in alone, beating MacIntyre to extend the Komets lead to 4-1. Soon after, during the mid-period TV time-out, the "kiss cam" settled on Drouin and O'Connor as they sat on the Komets bench as an April Fool's joke. The two players good-naturedly pretended to go in for a kiss to a multitude of laughs and cheers from the crowd. The replay was briefly played on a loop soon after to even more cheers. Fort Wayne nearly took advantage of the good spirits, almost scoring again at approximately 13:20. O'Connor rang a shot loudly off the crossbar and it appeared from some angles to bounce into the net afterwards. Still, the hard-working Gems never gave up and were able to regain some semblance of hope when Smith hit the twine at 15:12 to cut Fort Wayne's lead to 4-2. McCauley was credited with an assist. It proved to be too little too late, though, as it was all Komets from there. At 17:40, Warner crushed whatever hope Dayton still had by potting one for a 5-2 advantage. Assists went to DeAngelis and Thomas. And at 19:21 Matt Syroczynski put the exclamation mark on the victory with a tally that extended the Komets lead to 6-2, capping the scoring for the night. Boucher made 29 saves on 31 shots to claim the win. MacIntyre stopped 28 of the 34 shots he faced in absorbing the loss.

Notes: Announced attendance was 6967 the night before Good Friday. Dayton went 0-4 on the power play; Fort Wayne was 1-1. The Komets outshot the Gems 13-11 in the first, 13-10 in the second, and 34-31 overall. It was the birthday of Komets co-equipment manager Shawn Dundon. Thomas returned to the Fort Wayne line-up after missing 4 games due to a mild concussion suffered in the March 20 4-3 home loss to Muskegon, but goalie Tim Haun was scratched due to concussion-like symptoms after hitting his head on the ice in the same game. He will be out until at least next week. Former NHL goalie Parris Duffus was signed for the game as an emergency back-up. There was some concern after reports emerged that Boucher had hit a fan with his stick during the Komets 5-4 loss in Flint, MI on March 28, but no punishment was handed down in the incident that had few actual witnesses. Also out for Fort Wayne were Brad MacMillan (shoulder) and Mitch Woods (leg contusion). MacMillan was placed on the 30-day IR, and won't be eligible to play until the final weekend of the regular season. Dayton has lost 3 of their last 4 games and 6 of their last 8. The Komets won the season series with the Gems. They currently lead 10-3 with 2 games remaining.