FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The Komets rallied from a 3-1 deficit to stun the visiting Quad City Mallards 4-3 and take game one of the Central Division semifinals Friday night at the Memorial Coliseum.
After spotting the Mallards with a pair of goals, Komet forward Mike Cazzola finally solved goaltender C.J. Motte with 17 seconds remaining in the first frame to send the game into the first intermission with Quad City holding a 2-1 advantage.
The Mallards opened the second period with Michael Parks scoring at 2:35 for a 3-1 Mallard lead. Travis Ewanyk pulled the Komets within one at 13:22 before Shawn Szydlowski scored the equalizer two minutes, three seconds later at 15:25.
Only one marker was needed in the third stanza and that went to Garrett Desjardins when the forward banked a shot off Motte’s pad and into the net for the eventual game winner.
Fort Wayne goaltender Pat Nalge earned the win making 10 saves on 13 shots while Motte suffered the loss allowing four goals on 37 shots.
The Komets were 1/6 on the power play, Quad City was 0/2 with the man advantage.
The Fort Wayne victory sets up game two for Saturday night at the Coliseum with the Komets leading the series 1-0. The series switches to Quad City for games 3, 4 and if necessary, game 5 next week.
With Fort Wayne Komets release
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