The Komets returned to Wings Event Center in Kalamazoo for the second time this season on Friday and skated away with a 5-3 victory.
In the first period, Brady Stonehouse netted the only goal of the stanza on a power play at 5:37, with assists from Jayden Grubbe and Kirill Tyutayayev, extending his assists streak to five games. The Komets limited the Wings to five shots in the period.
The Komets opened the scoring in the second period, as rookie defenseman Beau Akey floated a shot at the blueline that got past Kalamazoo’s goaltender Luke Pavicich to make the game 2-0 at 2:41. The Wings anwered quickly with a strike at 5:41 to cut the lead to one, but the Komets struck back with goals from Mathew Brown and an unassited tally from Austin Magera to make it a 4-1 game. With both teams skating a man down, the Wings’ Collin Soccoman popped a shot over the glove of Komet netminder Nathan Day at 17:15. With the clock winding down, veteran Jalen Smerck scored on a setup from James Stefan and Tyler Inamoto to make it a 5-2 Komet lead at 17:48. The Komets outshot the Wings 18-3 in the period.
In the third period, Soccoman struck again at 4:55 to pull the lead back down to two goals, but that was as close as the Wings got as the Komets’ defense held on for the win. The Komets outshot the Wings 40-14.