LOVELAND, Colo. – In a fight-filled, rancorous battle that cemented this building rivalry, Colorado saw Fort Wayne even the series with 3-2 victory, despite several chances to tie the game late in the third period.
Even before the puck drop, the ugliness began in the warm-ups as several players gathered around the red line at center ice yapping, pushing, and shoving. An actual fight started between Colorado’s Ratelle and Fort Wayne’s Maggio, while a few other adjunct fights were noted as well. The tone was set for the game and the action following was just as expected – an ugly game that resulted in a bad outcome for the Eagles.
Joey Ratelle and Daniel Maggio tussle in pre game skate.
Once again, in a replay of last night’s first goal, Maggio gave the Komets a 1-0 lead by smacking the puck past Eagles goalie Joe Cannata on the power play for Fort Wayne at 7:05 of the first period.
Very late in the opening frame, the visitors upped the score on another of the five first period power plays given to the Komets. Fort Wayne took a 2-0 lead with a goal from close in, attributed to Garret Thompson with 34-seconds remaining.
#48 Garrett Thompson scores for the Komets in the first period
At 14:10 of the second period the Colorado Eagles finally broke through when a thundering check from Defenseman Matt Register caused the Komets player to cough up the puck behind his own net. Register quickly flipped the puck out to the top of the slot where Ratelle one-timed it into the Komets’ net, beating goalie Garret Bartus cleanly and cutting the Fort Wayne lead to 2-1.
Always battling hard, the Komets reclaimed the two-goal lead with another late-period score; this one from Marc-Olivier Roy, who beat Cannata down low for the 3-1 score heading into the third period.
Colorado dug deep and held Fort. Wayne off the scoreboard in the final frame and at 9:17, fast skating forward Ryan Harrison brought the puck all the way down ice and attempted a cross-slot move to score on Bartus that was stymied by a hard check knocking him to the ice. However, the puck was grabbed by rookie defenseman Nicolas Meloche who swept it into the net, again cutting the Komets’ lead to one goal.
Meloche gets knocked down after scoring the Eagles second goal.
The Komets’ 3-2 lead held up despite numerous attempts to tie the score, including pulling Cannata for the extra attacker, but there would be no overtime on this night and the Fort Wayne Komets head home after stealing Colorado’s home ice advantage.
Game three will be in Fort Wayne, Indiana at Memorial Coliseum on May 16th. Game time is 5:30pm MT.
Article and photos courtesy of terry.sanford@prohockeynews.com
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