Komets Prepare For 3 With Solar Bears

FORT WAYNE, Ind. - The Komets claimed a split of two games played at Gwinnett for week eight of 2012-13 and improved to 9-8-1 and 19 points after 18 games.  Fort Wayne enters week nine tied with Kalamazoo for third place in the North Division, eight points behind division leader Toledo.
 

It was the only trip of the season to Gwinnett.  The season series is now even 2-2-0 and the rubber match will be skated in the last meeting of the season Jan. 2 at Fort Wayne.

The Komets snapped a brief two-game winless streak with a 4-3 win at Gwinnett Wednesday.  Komet goaltender Kenny Reiter made 44 saves on 47 shots for the win.  It was the most shots faced by a Komet goaltender in a game this season.   Gwinnett also directed 27 shots at the Fort Wayne net in the third period for the most shots against the Komets in a period since Kalamazoo registered 27 shots in the third period of a 4-3 Komet shootout win Jan. 28, 2006.

Friday the Komets were turned back by the Gladiators 3-1.  Defenseman Daniel Maggio scored the lone Komet goal as Reiter made 31 saves in his second straight appearance.  A total of 154 penalty minutes were accumulated by both teams.  The Komets had 86 penalty minutes, the most in a game for the Komets since they were handed 90 penalty minutes Feb. 23, 2007 vs. Port Huron in a 2-0 home loss.

Leaders of the pack—Left wing Josh Brittain led the Komets for the week with a goal, two assists and three points, scoring points in each of the two games at Gwinnett.  Defenseman Daniel Maggio also had points in each game (1g, 1a) and defenseman Daniel Nycholat pushed his assist streak to three games (3a) with a helper in each game.  Overall, right wing Brandon Marino continues to top the Komets with 18 assists and 25 points while tied with Brittain, Thomas Beauregard (RW), and J.M. Rizk (RW) for most goals with seven.  Maggio leads plus/minus with +8 and Reiter ranks fifth in the ECHL among netminders with a 2.27 goals-against average and second with a .933 save percentage in nine appearances.

100 club—Tyler Butler reached his 100 ^th career goal scoring the Komets’ game winner Wednesday at Gwinnett and his first goal of the season.  The veteran defenseman is skating his 10 ^th pro season, first with the Komets and eighth in the ECHL.

Up next—The Komets will continue play in the south this week with a three-game weekend reunion at Orlando beginning Friday.  The Solar Bears are tied with the Florida Everblades in the South Division with 21 points and trail division leader Gwinnett by 10 points after 22 games.  Friday’s game will be Fort Wayne’s first visit to Orlando since March 7, 1998 when the Komets scored a 5-3 IHL win.  The Bears are coming off a split of two games at Las Vegas last Friday and Saturday.  Orlando has lost five of the last six games played and are 4-8-1 in their last 13 outings.  The Komets and Orlando are idle until they meet this Friday at the Amway Center (17,200) at 7pm.  Saturday’s faceoff is at 7pm and Sunday’s matinee gets underway at 3pm. 

Home for the holidays—The Komets’ next home game is Wednesday, Dec. 12 when the Kalamazoo Wings visit for a 7:30pm faceoff and the first of seven Wednesday night games at the Memorial Coliseum this season.  The Wings will return Sunday, Dec. 16, kicking off a string of nine Komet home games in 21 days thru