FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The Komets won a wild one Saturday night in front of 7,696 Fort Wayne faithful at the Memorial Coliseum as they rallied from 2-0 and 3-2 deficits to claim a 5-3 victory from the Quad City Mallards.
The Mallards opened the game with two goals in the first period including an empty net goal on a delayed penalty call against them at 1:32. In a rare result of the delayed penalty, the Komets inadvertently put the puck in their own net while goaltender Michael Houser was on the bench in favor of the extra attacker. The goal was credited to Quad City goaltender C.J. Motte in another rarity in hockey, as it was decided that he was the last Mallard to touch the puck before it entered the Fort Wayne net. Quad City went ahead 2-0 with Josh MacDonald’s seventh of the year at 11:33 before Fort Wayne’s Logan Nelson scored his first of the season a minute and 10 seconds later to pull the Komets within one. Ryan Culkin netted the equalizer at 18:38 to send the game into the first intermission at 2-2.
Quad City’s Jamie Tardiff scored the only marker of the second frame at 8:54 to give the Mallards a 3-2 edge at the start of the third period.
The Komets rallied with three goals in the third stanza beginning with Artur Tyanulin’s sixth goal of the season at 12:13. While short handed Mason Baptista netted the game winner on a breakaway when he solved Motte a minute, nine seconds later. Jamie Schaafsma scored the insurance tally into an empty net with 56 seconds remaining and Motte pulled for the extra attacker.
The Komets extended their win string to four games and will welcome the Orlando Solar Bears Sunday at 5pm to complete week 9.
With Fort Wayne Komets release
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