Komets
cooled by Blaze 2-1
K's rack
up 41 shots, held to just one goal
Fort Wayne, IN --
Stellar play by CHL
All-Star goaltender Nick Boucher and a picturesque
goal by Artem Podshendyalov wasn’t enough as the
last place Bloomington Blaze got a 2-1 road victory
over the Turner Conference and Central Hockey League
leading Fort Wayne Komets Friday night at the Allen
County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, IN.
-see gamesheet-
Bloomington goaltender Brian Mahoney-Wilson stood on
his head to stop 41 of 42 shots by the ever potent
Komet offense.
It was a hard played first period complete with an
impressive Nick Boucher poke check on a Bloomington
breakaway just five minutes in. Despite outshooting
the Blaze 12-9 and a valiant effort on four man
advantages, the Komets still weren’t able crack
Bloomington goaltender Brian Mahoney-Wilson. The
Blaze struck first by way of an unassisted Jordy
Trottier (2nd) goal at 8:34 of the first
period.
The second period seemed to look much like the first
until Fort Wayne Komet forward Artem Podshendyalov
(11th) found the back of the net at 11:06
to even the score at one apiece. Podshendyalov found
himself skating in uncontested after precision
tic-tac-toe passing by line mates Brett Smith and
Bobby Chaumont and backhanded the puck into the
upper corner of the net after a nice deke on
Mahoney-Wilson. The Komets were again held scoreless
on the power play as the Bloomington penalty killers
fought off two more Komet man advantages. The game
was tied 1-1 after forty minutes of play.
The third frame saw Bloomington’s Kyle Laughlin (13th)
get past Komet goaltender Nick Boucher at 5:18 to
give the Blaze a 2-1 lead. Boucher made a sprawling
save from across the crease on the initial wrap
around attempt only to have Laughlin pick up the
rebound and score in the top half of the empty net.
Bloomington added insult to injury as Blaze
defenseman Ryan Palmer put an apparent hit to the
head on Komet forward Brett Smith in the final
seconds of the game. A scrum ensued at center ice
with 5.4 seconds remaining before penalties were
issued to Ryan Palmer, a two minute minor for
clipping, and Brett Smith, a two minute minor for
roughing. The Komets couldn’t rally to avenge the
early third period goal and Bloomington escaped with
the 2-1 win.
Fort Wayne falls to 22-10-1 while Bloomington
improves to 12-20-2.
Notes:
3 Stars: 1st Star: Brian Mahoney-Wilson
(41 saves) 2nd Star: Artem Podshendyalov
(1-0-1, +1) 3rd Star: Kyle Laughlin
(1-0-1, GWG) …The Komets were 0-7 on the power play
while Bloomington was 0-3…Final shots were 42 to 23
in favor of the Komets…Nick Boucher made 21 saves
for the Komets while Brian Mahoney-Wilson stopped 41
for the Blaze…Defenseman Dustin Molle and forward
Chris Auger were scratches for Fort Wayne…The Komets
entered tonight’s game as the first place team in
the Turner Conference and the Central Hockey League,
while Bloomington was the last place team in both
categories… The Komets have a home record of
11-5-1…Bloomington is 3-12-1 on the road…Tonight’s
game marked the return of Komet goaltender Nick
Boucher and forward Brett Smith from the CHL
All-Star team…former Komet Craig Cescon was in the
lineup for Bloomington…Cescon received 14 PIMS…Attendance
was 7,140
