Komets Tame Mallards 2-1 in SO

One night after boldly downing the Fort Wayne Komets (49-21-1-4) in Moline, IL, the Quad City Mallards (29-35-4-8) played their last game of the 2009-2010 season against the Komets in Fort Wayne, IN, and both teams appeared far from motivated in what was, for all intents and purposes, a meaningless contest. The first period was mostly uneventful with the possible exception of a high sticking penalty call on Mallards forward Chris Lipsett that was shown repeatedly on the Jumbotron in playback. And even that was only a 2-minute penalty that apparently looked much worse than it really was. In the second period things not so much "heated up" as went from cold to lukewarm. There was a fight between Fort Wayne forward Lincoln Kaleigh Schrock and Mallards defenseman Jason Goulet just 43 seconds into the frame. For the most part, the 6'5" Goulet got the better of the 5'11" Schrock, yet the announced crowd of 8380 still applauded the bout. At 7:37, Komets defenseman Brandon Warner gave them even more for which to cheer. Fort Wayne forward Justin Hodgman, playing in his first home game of 2010, won a face-off in the left circle of the offensive zone and the puck was knocked in Warner's general direction. Warner then put a slap shot on net from just above the left circle to put the Komets up 1-0. The lead was short-lived, however, as at 16:45 the Komets committed a turnover when Hodgman was under pressure from Quad City left wing Obi Aduba along the left boards in the Fort Wayne zone. Hodgman knocked the puck toward center ice, but there were no Komets players in the vicinity to receive it. Mallards forward Joel Gasper skated in to claim it instead and beat Fort Wayne goalie Tim Haun to tie the game 1-1. At 17:25 there was another fight, this time between Komets forward Brad MacMillan and Mallards forward Marc Rechlicz. MacMillan got the best of his opponent, ultimately throwing him to the ice, but it was later revealed that MacMillan suffered a broken nose in the confrontation. The third period came and went much the same as the first had -- with few highlights and no goals scored. This set the stage for overtime, but the only point of interest in the extra frame was a couple of penalties that referee Andy Thackaberry called on the Komets that nearly gave the game away. First Fort Wayne forward P.C. Drouin was sent off for hooking at 2:48. He looked miserable as he made his way to the box, so just over a minute later at 3:52, defenseman Kevin Bertram decided to join him when he committed a slashing infraction. The crowd booed heartily at both calls, which put the teams in the unusual situation of skating 5-on-3. Regular season overtimes ordinarily feature 4 skaters aside, but Quad City was permitted an extra man without pulling goalie Kyle Jones due to the second penalty. But the Komets successfully held off the Mallards until time had expired once again, ushering in the shootout for the second night in a row. Quad City's first shooter was forward Patrick Levesque who had scored the winning goal the previous night. Levesque tried the same move that had worked on goalie Nick Boucher, but Haun dove from his goal crease to aggressively poke check it away before Levesque knew what had happened. The Mallards next two shooters -- forwards Brandon Marino and Juris Stals -- both came up empty as well. Fort Wayne selected forward Sean O'Connor, defenseman Guy Dupuis, and Schrock. Of the three, only Dupuis succeeded, wristing a shot past Jones for the 2-1 victory. Haun stopped 29 of 30 shots plus all 3 shootout attempts. Jones made 47 saves on 48 shots in addition to stopping 2 of 3 shootout attempts.

Notes: It was a fruitless night for the power play, as Fort Wayne was 0 for 7 and Quad City was 0 for 6. The Komets outshot the Mallards 13-10 in the first, 18-8 in the second, and 15-9 in the third, but were edged in shots by Quad City 3-2 in overtime. Haun was playing in his first game after a 12 game absence. Komets forward Mitch Woods returned to the line-up after a 1-game suspension for spearing Dayton defenseman Nathan Oke a week earlier. Prior to the beginning of the game, there was a presentation of IHL awards that the Komets had been selected to receive -- "Goalie of the Year" to Tim Haun, "Defensive Forward of the Year" to Colin Chaulk, "Broadcaster of the Year" to radio announcer Bob Chase, and "GM of the Year" to David Franke. The Komets have won 6 of their last 7 games and 7 of their last 9. Fort Wayne won the season series with Quad City 12-3.