Komets Pulverize Gems 5-2

The Fort Wayne Komets (47-21-1-3) followed up a 7-4 home trouncing of the IHL's lowliest team, the Dayton Gems (25-45-3-1) on Friday night with an additional 5-2 trouncing of the Gems in Dayton, OH on Saturday night in what was the final meeting between the two teams of the 2009-2010 season. Fort Wayne forward Sean O'Connor got the scoring started at 8:14 of the first period when he put a shot just under the crossbar for the 1-0 lead. Forward P.C. Drouin assisted on the play. At 15:30, forward Leo Thomas made the count 2-0 when he rifled a shot into the back of the net after a scramble for the puck. Assists went to Drouin and O'Connor. Then at 17:59, Thomas picked up a loose puck in front of the net on a Dayton turnover and poke-checked it past Gems goalie Derek MacIntyre for a 3-0 lead heading into the first intermission. It wasn't until 15:57 of the middle frame that Dayton finally broke through on the scoreboard after the Komets were caught playing around with the puck and Gems forward Corey Couturier capitalized by putting it past Fort Wayne goalie Nick Boucher, reducing the deficit to 3-1 in the process. Forward Tim Hartung and defenseman Russell Smith were credited with assists. The Komets' sloppy play continued after the tally. At 19:51, with the teams skating four aside, Dayton defenseman Nathan Oke came out of the penalty box upon the expiration of a holding call against him and grabbed the puck in full stride before passing it to Gems defenseman Matt Szypura for a breakaway goal that cut Fort Wayne's lead to 3-2 at the end of the second. The Komets finally got the message. At 4:28 of the final frame, there was a brief skirmish that resulted in 2 minute roughing penalties for both Smith and Fort Wayne forward Colin Chaulk. At 5:28, referee Craig Welker also sent Oke to the sin bin to give the Komets a 4-on-3 power play, and at 5:48, they cashed it in. O'Connor took a pass from defenseman Brandon Warner and one-timed it past MacIntyre, who never saw it coming, to extend the lead to 4-2. Then, with the Gems and Komets skating four aside, Thomas completed his hat trick by burying a hard shot from a good set-up by Drouin, capping the scoring at 5-2. Though there was no additional scoring, an incident did occur as the clock was running down that could potentially have repercussions for Fort Wayne. At 14:11 Oke was sent to the box with a 2-minute boarding penalty after leaving Komets forward Mitch Woods somewhat shaken up on a play. At 17:08, with Oke back on the ice, Woods apparently wanted some measure of payback for the hit and was caught spearing Oke. He received a 5-minute spearing penalty for his actions in addition to a 10 minute game misconduct, meaning the infraction may warrant further review by league officials for a possible suspension. Boucher stopped 32 of 34 shots for the win. MacIntyre made 25 saves on 30 shots in absorbing the loss. With the victory, Fort Wayne stretched its margin of victory in the season series with Dayton to 12-3.

Notes: Announced attendance was 1368. The Komets went 1 for 7 on the power play. The Gems went 0 for 7. Dayton outshot Fort Wayne 13-10 in the second, 12-9 in the third, and 34-30 overall. Scratches for Fort Wayne included defenseman Bobby Phillips (undisclosed upper body injury), goalie Tim Haun (concussion), and forward Brad MacMillan (shoulder). Dayton forward Matt Maccarone left the team the morning of the game. It was the Komets third win a row. Conversely, Dayton has lost 3 in a row. News broke that Fort Wayne forward Konstantin Shafranov would be playing his last game with the Komets the next day, Sunday, April 11. Shafranov was to leave Fort Wayne for the opportunity to represent his home country of Kazakhstan in the World Hockey Championships to be held in Germany in May, after which he will be retiring as a player.