Komets Shut-Out Lumberjacks 3-0

In a game in which victory was all but mandatory to keep the Fort Wayne Komets (45-21-1-3) hopes of winning another regular season title alive, the team not only beat the first place Muskegon Lumberjacks (48-19-1-3), they made their trip to Fort Wayne a complete waste of time by preventing anyone wearing a Muskegon jersy from earning a single point in the loss. Granted, the Lumberjacks were wounded prey at best for the Komets. They were without their leading scorer, forward Robin Bouchard, who was still under league-suspension for his actions following a 4-3 overtime loss to Dayton on March 31. Forward Todd Robinson, who had already completed a 1-game suspension, was having a rough night right from the start. On the opening faceoff, Robinson took a right cross from Fort Wayne defenseman Guy Dupuis, which left him badly cut and staining the ice with blood. Referee Scott Hoberg, who apparently did not see the incident clearly, sent Komets forward Justin Chwedoruk to the penalty box with a 4-minute high sticking penalty at the 9 second mark, and to his credit, Chwedoruk did not make a show of protesting the call. Meanwhile, Robinson left the game to get stitched up. He later returned, but not before missing precious minutes that potentially could have given his team some momentum. As it was, it was Fort Wayne that got on the board first, and they never looked back from there. At 10:49, Chwedoruk won a face-off in the offensive zone, sending the puck in the general direction of forward David Hukalo, who had taken position at the top of the slot. Hukalo backhanded a shot at the net which ricocheted off the right post, then bounced off the back of Lumberjacks goalie Sebastien Centomo before weakly sliding across the goal line for the 1-0 lead. Centomo's luck wasn't much better than Robinson's. Early in the contest, he took a slap shot to his mask from Komets forward Colin Chaulk. Centomo did not return to the game after the first intermission for undisclosed reasons, and there was speculation that he might have been injured on the play. His replacement, Matt Lundin, quickly settled in for what would become a goaltenders duel in the middle frame. Fort Wayne briefly had a 5-on-3 power play after Lumberjacks forward Billy Collins was called for tripping at 8:36 and defenseman Mario Larocque was sent off for interference at 9:01, but the advantage was cut short when Hukalo was carelessly caught roughing at 9:28. At 15:41, Chaulk bowled Lundin over rather dramatically on a play and was sent to the box for goalie interference, but neither team could cash in on the resulting power plays, leaving the Komets to cling to their slender lead heading into the final frame. But it was in the third that Fort Wayne finally broke the game open against the punchless Lumberjacks. At 2:38 Komets forward P.C. Drouin scored a beautiful goal after picking up a pass from forward Leo Thomas to put Fort Wayne up 2-0. Defenseman Brandon Warner was also credited with an assist. Then at 16:10, Chaulk capped the scoring at 3-0 when he put a shot past Lundin on a well-executed play that featured crisp passes between Chaulk, Drouin, and forward Konstantin Shafranov. With the win, Fort Wayne also stayed ahead of the relentless third place Port Huron Icehawks, who had climbed within 2 points heading into the night's match-ups by defeating the Flint Generals the night before. Komets goalie Nick Boucher claimed the shut-out victory by stopping all 27 of the shots he faced. Centomo made 11 saves on 12 shots and Lundin stopped 18 of 20 in relief.

Notes: Announced attendance was 6009 for what could potentially be the Muskegon Lumberjacks final appearance in Fort Wayne. Muskegon has announced that they will be leaving the IHL to field a junior level non-professional hockey team next season. The Komets were 0 for 5 on the power play. The Lumberjacks were 0 for 6. Fort Wayne led Muskegon in shots 12-6 in the first and 32-27 overall. Prior to this loss, the Lumberjacks had won 2 games in a row and 8 of the previous 10. The Komets have now won 2 in a row and are unbeaten in regulation in 5 of the last 6. Fort Wayne lost the season series with Muskegon 6-5.