CINCINNATI, OH – The Cincinnati Cyclones (23-21-4-0) earned a 5-4 overtime win over the Ft. Wayne Komets on Saturday night. Forward Nick Huard tallied a pair of power play goals, while forwards Shane Walsh, Dylan Nowakowski, and Shawn O’Donnell each netted lone markers for the Cyclones.
Ft Wayne came out firing in the first and jumped out to a 2-0 lead midway through the first on goals from defensemen Jason Binkley and Will Weber 12:16 into the frame.
Cincinnati was not deterred and managed to cut their deficit in half late in the period when forward Jordan Sims forced a turnover in the neutral zone and sent a pass to Walsh who launched a shot past Komets goaltender Pat Nagle to pull Cincinnati to within a goal at 2-1.
The Cyclones wasted little time tying the game in the second, as just 41 seconds in while on the power play, Sims sent a pass to Huard who worked it by Nagle to pull Cincinnati even with the Komets, 2-2.
After Ft. Wayne took a 3-2 lead midway through the frame on a goal from Trevor Cheek, the Cyclones responded to tie the game at 3-3 when Huard launched a shot from the high-slot that deflected off of a Ft. Wayne skate in front and into the net for his second power play goal of the period.
The Komets continued to apply the offensive pressure and regained the lead moments later when forward Garrett Thompson found the back of the net, putting Ft. Wayne up 4-3.
The momentum was short-lived, however, and the Cyclones tied the once more when Nowakowski took a drop pass from forward Brandon McNally and hammered a shot in past Nagle from the right circle to pull Cincinnati even with the Komets at 4-4 after two periods.
The two sides were evenly matched in the third, exchanging several quality scoring chances. Both goalies were up to the task however and the 4-4 tie was preserved throughout the remainder of regulation thus forcing overtime.
In the extra session, Cincinnati only needed 1:15 to secure their fifth straight win when O’Donnell skated in on goal and took a shot that was initially turned aside by Nagle, but he was following up the play and slammed in his own rebound to lift the Cyclones to the 5-4 overtime win.
The Cyclones were outshot 32-28 on the night with goaltender Michael Houser stopping 28 in the win. Cincinnati wraps up their three-game weekend on Sunday afternoon in Toledo against the Walleye. Face-off is slated for 5:15 p.m. ET.
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