A weekend road trip that all Komet fans want to forget took place down in Georgia as the Fort Wayne Komets (25-19-4-2) took on the Savannah Ghost Pirates (18-25-9-1) for two games and the Atlanta Gladiators (26-21-5-1). First up was the Ghost Pirates on Friday night, where the Komets fell 3-2 even though they outshot Savannah 49-23. Drake Rymsha scored the first Komet goal on a power play, and Anthony Petruzzelli had the other goal for the K’s in his 300th game played for Fort Wayne. Ryan Fanti was in goal and had 20 saves on 23 save attempts. In the rematch, things only got worse on Saturday night as the Komets were beaten 3-0. Once again, we outshot the Ghost Pirates on the night, this time 46-24, but unfortunately, finding the back of the net has been an issue this road trip. Colton Point started in goal but was pulled after giving up three goals on just 11 shots. Fanti was able to come in and close the door, but the damage had already been done. One positive from Saturday night’s game was that Fanti stopped all 13 shot attempts, and we were able to stay out of the penalty box for most of the game, as we only had two penalties, and the first one did not come till halfway through the third period.
Sunday afternoon, the K’s took on the Gladiators for a mid-afternoon game, and it did not take long for Fort Wayne to find itself in trouble after a roughing penalty to Matt Alvaro; the Gladiators scored on the power play. Komets did answer back at 9:18 of the first period when Garrett Van Wyhe scored off a great pass from behind the net from Tristan Pelletier.
Shortly after the game was tied up, things started getting a little intense as Hayes from the Gladiators cross-checked Rymsha, leading to a scuffle. Atlanta went back ahead at 11:31 when Fanti’s skate had a mishap, and he was unable to get back up in front of the net. Komets came out ready to play to start the second period as Matt Alvaro scored on the power play just 35 seconds into the period to tie things up. Shawn Boudrias gave the K’s their first lead of the weekend at 4:18, but Atlanta tied it back up at 16:07. Atlanta thought they took the lead under a minute left in the period, but the goal was waved off due to a Gladiators penalty. The third period had Atlanta written all over it as they scored on a powerplay to take a 4-3 lead at 3:34 and followed that up with another goal to go up by two at 5:07. Fort Wayne was able to bring it back to within one when Stefano Gilanti scored at 8:29. The K’s had plenty of scoring chances to close out the period, but unfortunately we were unable to connect. Atlanta knocked in an empty netter at 19:08 to give the Gladiators a 6-4 victory and the Komets their 4th straight loss.
Sunday’s game was Stefano Gilianti’s 700th professional hockey game. The Komets had 175 shots on goal during this four-game road trip but only scored seven goals; being unable to produce goals eventually led to the four-game losing streak. The Komets will now head back home for a four-game homestand, starting with a huge game against the Toledo Walleye, who are currently sitting in second place in the division.
