Komets fall to Cincinnati, 3-1

FORT WAYNE, Ind. - The Cincinnati Cyclones (32-17-4-2) came up with some timely penalty killing and preserved a 3-1 win over the Fort Wayne Komets (26-27-1-1) in front of 7,678 at Memorial Coliseum on Friday night. The victory was also the 100th for Head Coach Jarrod Skalde behind the Cincinnati bench.

Cincinnati jumped out to a 1-0 lead at the 8:50 mark when David Pacan sent a beautiful wrist shot past Komets goaltender Jeff Deslauriers (W, 28 saves 0-1-0) after catching a tape-to-tape pass from Chris Reed in the right circle. And thanks to 10 saves from Michael Houser (W, 21 saves, 8-5-0) and a strong penalty kill, the Cyclones took the one-goal edge into the first intermission.

The Komets used a power play to even things up at the 12:36 mark of the second period; from the center of the blue line, Jamie Milam blasted home his first of the season past a screened Houser, making it a 1-1 contest. Neither team could find the net the rest of the stanza and remained deadlocked after 40 minutes.

In the final period, a Fort Wayne turnover proved costly as Jack MacLellan grabbed the puck behind the net and hit Josh Shalla in front of the net and easily buried his 18th goal of the year – giving his team a 2-1 edge. The Komets had a late power play and pulled their goalie in an attempt to tie it, but Houser and company stayed strong again; Patrick Cehlin caught up to a loose puck during the final seconds of regulation and slammed in an empty net goal to seal a 3-1 win for Cincinnati.