The Fort Wayne Komets (23-15-4-2) traveled south for the weekend as they visited the Allen Americans (22-23-1-0) for a three-game series. Game 1 took place on Thursday night and was full of fireworks from the start in a rather quick game lasting just 2 hours and 29 minutes. Samuel Dove-McFalls got things going for the K’s with a shorthanded goal and his 5th goal of the year. Allen answered back a little over two minutes later when Kris Myllari scored. Garrett Van Wyhe put the Komets back up 2-1 with his 6th goal of the season, assisted by Anthony Petruzzelli (9th) and Stefano Giliati (16th). The second period had the Americans written all over it, as Allen scored four times, including two power-play goals giving them the 5-2 lead heading into the final frame. Allen came out in the third period with the momentum rolling, scoring their third power-play goal of the night and following that up with their 7th goal of the game. Mark Rassell ended the game on a positive note scoring his 13th goal of the season, bringing the score to a final of 7-3 in favor of Allen. Ryan Fanti started the game between the pipes for the Komets but was pulled after giving up six goals on 22 shots. Colton Point returned for the Komets making three saves and allowing one goal. Fort Wayne had 44 shots on goal compared to Allen’s 26, but the difference on the night was Allen taking advantage of Komet’s nine penalties.
Game two of the series took place Friday night, and it did not disappoint fans, especially if you like scoring. Allen came out early and scored the first goal of the game after the K’s could not take control of the puck in the defensive end, and Jack Combs nailed a quick wrister past Fanti at 4:22 in the 1st. The Americans had a chance to go up two just before the halfway point in the first, but Graves could hustle back and disrupt the breakaway opportunity to keep it at just a 1-0 deficit. Komets picked up the pace, which led to Brubacher connecting with Rassell right across the crease for his second goal in just as many nights and his 14th of the season to tie things up at 1 with just under 5 minutes left in the first. Allen was awarded a penalty shot with 4:02 left in the opening period, but Hargrove missed the net wide left to keep the game tied. Anthony Petruzzelli picked up his 20th goal of the season after making a great play on the puck and went five hole on Perry to give the K’s the lead.
Tye Felhaber (14th) ripped one past Perry to start the second period taking advantage while on the power play to put us up 2. Komets kept attacking the net, scoring their second of the period just 2 minutes and 7 seconds in, giving Tristan Pelletier the first Komets goal of his career. Allen closed the gap after a bad bounce off the boards gave the Americans a scoring chance that Liam Finlay took advantage of at 6:31 in the second period. Shawn Boudrais helped the Komets answer at 10:17 to put us back up three at 5-2. Play picked up right from the jump in the third period with Fanti making several key saves in the opening seconds, which led to the Komets pushing the puck up the ice on a man advantage allowing Rassell to connect with Dove-McFalls for the score. Allen answered right back on a breakaway to make it a 6-3 game. One minute and ten seconds later, Allen found the net again, cutting the lead to 2 and forcing Coach Boudreau to take his timeout to settle things down. Boudrais (19th) found himself in front of the net and picked up his second goal of the game to push the lead back to 3. Back and forth, the scoring went as Allen answered back for their third goal in just over 5 minutes. Hargrove kept the pressure on the Komets, using his speed to score on a breakaway to extend his point streak to 20 games and putting the game at 7-6 with 9:44 left in the third. The deal closer came off the backhand of Oliver Cooper with 25.9 seconds remaining to give the Komets an 8-6 victory. The Komets out-shot the Americans for the second night in a row 42-25, while Fanti made 19 saves. Komets penalty kill was able to hold off all 5 of Allen’s power plays on the night.
The rubber match of the series and final matchup between the two clubs took place Saturday night, and the Komets did not waste any time as Drake Rymsha scored his 13th goal of the season, ending a personal scoring drought of 9 games 46 seconds into the game. Dove-McFalls followed that up by scoring at 1:03, giving the Komets a 2-0 lead on just two shots. Rymsha was back at it, creating an odd-man advantage after coming out of the box, hitting Van Whye for the third goal of the game just 5:50 into it.
Allen came out aggressively to start the second period, but Fanti was able to close the door during the opening minutes. Matt Alvaro flicked one in to continue the high-paced Komet offense at 6:52 to give the K’s a 4-0 lead. The Americans finally got on the board with a power-play goal coming right off a faceoff win to Fanti’s left, bringing the score to 4-1 at 13:19 in the second period. The third period began with some theatrics, including a cheapshot from Mikael Robidoux on Daniel Maggio after the whistle. This eventually led to Allen’s coach Chad Costello tossing a water bottle and his suit jacket onto the ice as he was escorted to his locker room.
Rassell and the Komets followed that excitement by scoring on that double minor power-play to give the Komets a 5-1 lead at 3:26 in the final period. Boudrias continued his hot streak putting the Komets up by five at 11:37. The remaining 10 minutes turned into more of a WWE wrestling match with several altercations causing multiple players from both sides to finish their night early. Allen ended the night with 84 penalty minutes, all while suffering a 6-1 loss. The Komets once again out-shot Allen on the night 50-33, all while Fanti came up big, stopping 32 shots after giving up 12 goals in the previous two nights. Next up for the Komets is another road game at Cincinnati before returning home for Saturday and Sunday games.
