The Fort Wayne Komets returned to the Allen County Memorial Coliseum to play their first home game in the last thirteen days. After Friday night’s unbelievable comeback win, which found the Komets down 3-0 early on to win in a shootout, we all knew Saturday’s rematch would be a treat to all those in attendance. The Cyclones (29-12-5-3) came in 10 points ahead of the Komets (24-16-4-2) but have played three more games than us.
After yesterday’s lackluster start to the game falling behind 3-0, Saturday night’s start said, “hold my beer,” as sloppy play put the Komets behind 4-0 in the first period. The first goal came at 3:12 when the K’s could not clear the puck successfully. The Cyclones followed that up with their second goal at 4:30 when the Komets could not take care of the puck, and a turnover led to the goal. Matt Berry walked right down the middle of the ice for Cincinnati’s third goal at 11:22. A fastbreak rebound off Fanti gave Kohen Olischefski his second goal of the night, and the Komets were down 4-0 just like that. Fort Wayne did get a chance in the first period after a team scuffle followed by a Cyclone tripping penalty gave the Komets a 5-3 man advantage. The K’s could not find the back of the net but created some momentum to close out the period.
That momentum carried over for the Komets to start the second period as Tristan Pelletier found the back of the net for his second goal of the season to bring the game within 3. Cyclones answered right back off a blocked shot that was smacked out of the air by Matej Pekar at 11:59. Mark Rassell swung the momentum back when he scored while on the power play at 17:54 to close out the second period at 5-2 Cincinnati.
As expected, a wild third period took place for the second night in a row. Matt Alvaro scored on a powerplay goal at 2:24, and the crowd could feel the comeback starting, but Cincinnati shut the door on those hopes just 11 seconds later with a Justin Vaive goal to bring the game to 6-3. Adam Brubacher brought the packed house back to their feet with a powerplay goal at 11:16. Samuel Dove-McFalls continued his streak a few minutes later at 14:59, and the 9,493 had the jungle rocking and believing in a comeback win for the second straight night.
A bad penalty by the Cyclones gave the Komets the power play chance, along with pulling Fanti from the net, a two-man advantage was in store for the K’s. Multiple scoring chances took place, but unfortunately, Cincinnati made the stops and connected on an empty net goal to close the game out 7-5.
Saturday night was more than just your typical hockey game; the109
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Komets wore specialty purple and black “Fight Cancer” jerseys. Those game-worn jerseys were auctioned off through a silent auction during the game and raised over $24,000, which will benefit Braydin Lewis vs. Cancer and The Riley Children’s Foundation. Komets close out this weekend with a home game against the Kalamazoo Wings on Sunday evening for a 5:00 pm start.
