FORT WAYNE, Ind. – Justin Kea made a strong first impression with a power play goal in his Toledo debut, but the Walleye had their four-game winning streak halted by the Fort Wayne Komets in a 5-2 setback on Saturday at the Memorial Coliseum.
Entering their third road tilt in four nights, the Walleye (19-6-2-0) managed to dress 15 skaters after acquiring Kea via trade from the Orlando Solar Bears prior to the ECHL’s 3 p.m. roster freeze. Toledo’s undermanned roster was further depleted when A.J. Jenks exited the game due to injury late in the opening period.
Fort Wayne (14-12-0-1) broke the deadlock just 1:44 into the contest. Chase Stewart’s wrist shot from the right point hit traffic in front, but Jake Kamrass was able to collect the rebound at the right side of the net and stuff the puck inside the right post to stake the Komets to a 1-0 lead.
The Walleye killed a 5-on-3 lasting 1:27, and eventually evened the score on the man advantage later in the same frame. Kea exacted revenge on his former club when he redirected Shane Berschbach’s centering pass from the right circle into a gaping net at the 9:55 mark.
The Komets answered with a power play goal of their own to jump back in front 16:21 into the first. Mason Baptista had his initial attempt from the hash marks steered away by Pat Nagle, but Anthony Petruzzelli made no mistake on the rebound at the bottom of the left circle.
Fort Wayne padded its lead with a pair of goals in the middle stanza. Shawn Szydlowski weathered a backcheck from Berschbach and lifted a backhanded effort into the top right corner at 11:27, before Jordan Sims potted the Komets’ fourth goal on a delayed penalty when he buried Brady Shaw’s rebound at the right post at the 15:50 mark to make it a 4-1 contest.
Kevin Tansey provided the visitor with a much-needed boost 4:18 into the final frame courtesy of his third goal in as many games, but Szydlowski tallied his second of the night on a one-timer to wrap up the scoring with 1:29 remaining in regulation. The result gives Toledo a 4-1-1-0 record against the Komets in the regular season series, with four meetings decided by a single goal.
Toledo finished 1-for-5 on the power play, while Fort Wayne converted on 1-of-8 opportunities. Nagle blocked 37-of-42 shots to drop his record to 11-4-1, as Glass City native Lukas Hafner turned aside 21-of-23 to pick up his sixth win of the season.
With Toledo Walleye release
You must be logged in to post a comment.