WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah – One side of the ECHL Western Conference Finals bracket is set, following a 5-3 win for the Fort Wayne Komets over the Utah Grizzlies in front of 5,242 fans at Maverik Center on Friday night.
Garrett Thompson scored twice, including the game winner, and Pat Nagle stopped 26 shots as the Komets became the first team to clinch a conference final spot this post-season.
The Komets jumped out to the early lead 4:21 into the game, on a Shawn Szydlowski goal, his seventh of the postseason. Szydlowski jumped on a turnover inside the Utah zone, then sent a pass to Alex Belzile in the slot. Belzile then sent the puck back to Szydlowski, who beat Utah goalie Mark Owuya from the left wing side.
Ryan Hayes pulled the Grizzlies even with a power play goal just over three minutes later before the Komets pulled ahead 3-1 at 7:39 of the second after goals from Thompson and Trevor Cheek.
Hayes added his second power play goal at 11:14 of the second on assists from Barry Almeida and Charles Sarault, cutting the lead to one as the two sides went into the second intermission.
Marc Cantin tied it all up 6:36 into the third period, beating Nagle on a slapshot from above the right circle. Almeida and Hayes received assists on the goal.
The tie would last less than two minutes, as Thompson went on to net the would-be game-winner at 8:16 on an assist from Jordon Southorn.
Thompson took a nuetral zone pass from Southorn, then skated across the blue line and released a wrist shot from the top of the right circle that found the net to make it 4-3.
Szydlowski then added an empty net goal with 15-seconds remaining to ice the game and clinch the series.
The second-seeded Komets now await the winner of the series between the top-seeded Missouri Mavericks and fourth-seeded Allen Americans.
After sweeping the Quad City Mallards in the first round, the Mavericks find themselves on the brink of elimination, trailing the Americans 3-1 in the series. Game five of that series is set for a 4:05pm CDT start on Mother’s Day.
Allen has won five of its last six playoff games after opening the postseason trailing the Idaho Steelheads 3-2 through five games of their opening round series.
In the Eastern Conference, South Carolina and Adirondack and Wheeling and Reading are each tied 2-2. Game five in each series is scheduled for later tonight.
Contact the writer: John.Hall@prohockeynews.com
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