Inside The Zone - March 15

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - Click on the VIDEO tab to your left to see this week's edition of Inside The Zone.

The Komets were faced with three home games in four nights going into week 22 and successfully prevailed in all three games to take a crucial six points and advance past Port Huron into second place.

The Komets started the important week white-washing the visiting Bloomington PrairieThunder Wednesday 5-0. Tim Haun earned his third shutout of the season stopping all 25 shots. It was the final meeting of the season between the Komets and Thunder with Fort Wayne winning the series 9-2-1-0. Friday the Komets chopped league-leader Muskegon 5-2 and pulled to within one point of second-place Port Huron. Saturday the hot Komets cooled the visiting Icehawks 5-1 and snapped Port Huron's win streak at four games while taking second place in the IHL.

The Komets improved to 38-18-1-2 for 79 points and lead third-place Port Huron by a point and trail first-place Muskegon by eight points with three games in hand and 17 games remaining.

Another busy week ahead
This week the Komets will skate four games in five nights starting with their fifth and final visit to Port Huron (37-20-0-4) Wednesday. The Komets are 1-3-0-0 in four previous meetings at McMorran Arena and 4-5-0-0 overall against the Icehawks. The battle for second-place starts at 7pm and is the 10th of 11 meetings. After dropping a 5-1 decision in Fort Wayne Saturday and snapping a four-game win streak, the Icehawks suffered a 5-3 setback at Muskegon Sunday. Port Huron is 9-4-0-1 in their last 14 games.

The Komets return for a home doubleheader beginning Friday against Quad City at 8pm. The Mallards (23-28-4-7) trail Bloomington for the fourth and final playoff spot by five points. It's the 12th of 15 meetings this season with the Komets leading the series 9-1-0-1. Quad City will host Flint Wednesday before traveling to Fort Wayne Friday.

Saturday the Komets welcome back Muskegon for a 7:30pm faceoff. The Lumberjacks rebounded from their loss in Fort Wayne Friday with a win Saturday at Quad City and a home victory Sunday against Port Huron. The first-place Lumberjacks will skate at Bloomington Wednesday before visiting Fort Wayne Saturday.

Sunday the Komets complete week 23 with a 5pm faceoff at Dayton. It's the seventh of nine visits to Hara Arena where the Komets are 5-1-0-0 against the Gems. Fort Wayne leads the series 7-3-0-0 after winning the last three encounters. Dayton travels to Port Huron Friday before hosting the Komets Sunday.

Streaking Komets.....the Komets enter the week ahead riding a three-game win streak and are 9-2-0-0 in the last 11 games....goaltender Tim Haun earned the decision in all three games last week for a three-game win string and extended his home winning streak to 11 games.....Colin Chaulk (C) has a four-game goal and point-scoring streak (4 goals, 2 assists).....Sean O'Connor (RW) has a four-game point streak (3 goals, 3 assists).....Konstantin Shafranov (LW) has a three-game goal and point-scoring streak (3 goals, 1 assist).

Hukalo hits 200.....David Hukalo (RW), reactivated last week from injured reserve, notched his 200th career point (assist) Friday against Muskegon.

Shooting Komets.....the Komets out-shot their opponents 109-72 for the week and have out-shot opponents in 10 straight games. The Komets lead the IHL with an average of 35.12 shots per game.

Tim Haun, Sean O'Connor named IHL Players of the Week
The IHL announced Monday that Komet goaltender Tim Haun has been named Goaltender of the Week and right winger Sean O'Connor has been named Rookie of the Week for the period ending March 14, 2010.

Haun, 29, was the goaltender of record in all three Komet wins of the week allowing three goals on 72 shots for a 1.00 goals-against average and .958 save percentage.

In addition to his three-game win string, Haun has a home winning streak of 11 games. The Solsgirth, Manitoba native also earned his third shutout of the season blanking Bloomington Wednesday 5-0. Friday Haun posted a 5-2 win making 24 saves and Saturday the netminder stopped 20 of 21 Port Huron shots for a 5-1 win, his third straight and career best 24th of the season.

Haun leads IHL goalies with a 2.09 goals-against average and .925 save percentage after 37 games. Haun, the IHL's February Goaltender of the Month, has earned the weekly award four times this season to date.

O'Connor, 23, earned his first league honor of the season registering multi-point games in each appearance.

The right winger scored three goals and three assists for six points and a +4 for the week and has points in four straight games (4 goals, 3 assists).

O'Connor reached 24 assists on the season to match his personal record high of 24 assists last year.

The Brownstown, Michigan native leads Fort Wayne rookies with 16 goals and 40 points after 56 games and tops the Komets shot chart at 182.