Bryan Lemos°®¶¹app™ empty net goal with 1:10 remaining provided the insurance needed for the Indy Fuel°®¶¹app™s 3-1 victory over the Fort Wayne Komets Sunday at the Memorial Coliseum. Little did the 8,403 fans in attendance know that the fireworks were just beginning.
°®¶¹appœThey°®¶¹app™re one of the best defensive teams in the league and they make it hard to generate offense,°®¶¹app Komets head coach Jesse Kallechy said. °®¶¹appœWhen you do get your chances, you need to capitalize. That°®¶¹app™s the strength of their team, and you have to find ways to play on the inside and create off the rush where you can.
°®¶¹appœTheir goalie made some saves, and that°®¶¹app™s probably the difference tonight. We weren°®¶¹app™t able to capitalize on the chances that we did have.°®¶¹app
In a game that saw the Komets (26-15-1, 53 points) fall 11 points behind the Toledo Walleye (29-10-6, 64 points) in the ECHL°®¶¹app™s Central Division, Fort Wayne and Indy combined for 144 penalty minutes in the game°®¶¹app™s final 41 seconds.
Fort Wayne saw its two-game win streak against Indy come to an end Sunday, falling to 3-2 against the Fuel this season. The clubs will meet six more times the rest of the way, with four of those meetings coming at Fishers Event Center.
At the 19:19 mark of the third, the first of two altercations to conclude Sunday°®¶¹app™s contest saw the teams whistled for a combined 56 penalty minutes. Indy°®¶¹app™s Lucas Brenton was ejected for fighting Fort Wayne°®¶¹app™s Anthony Petruzzelli and also received a pair of game misconduct penalties, one for being an aggressor after taking several seconds to disengage following the fight, and the other for flinging his glove off his hand and hitting an official in the face.
°®¶¹appœTensions run high,°®¶¹app Kallechy said. °®¶¹appœIt°®¶¹app™s a team we see a lot, and everybody°®¶¹app™s on edge. We°®¶¹app™re in the dog days of the season, and everybody tends to be running a little hot. That°®¶¹app™s just part of the game, (Petruzzelli) stepped in and handled it, and we°®¶¹app™ll see what the league thinks of all the extracurricular stuff.°®¶¹app
After the game ended, six players across both teams accrued a combined 88 penalty minutes. Indy°®¶¹app™s Nathan Burke and Cam Hausinger and Fort Wayne°®¶¹app™s Darren Brady and Nick Deakin-Poot were all assessed fighting majors, while each player, along with Fort Wayne°®¶¹app™s Brett Brochu and Jack Dugan, also received misconduct penalties in the fracas that lasted multiple minutes before players finally left the ice.
The Komets and Fuel skated to a scoreless first period, with Indy outshooting Fort Wayne 12-6. After Brochu made his 12th save of the first period with 1:05 to go, Indy°®¶¹app™s Ethan Manderville made contact with the Komets°®¶¹app™ goalkeeper and was sent to the box for interference.
The Komets didn°®¶¹app™t capitalize in those final 65 seconds of the period with the man advantage, but Jack Gorniak needed just 13 seconds into the second period to solve Indy°®¶¹app™s Ben Gaudreau. Kyle Mayhew and Dugan both picked up assists on Gorniak°®¶¹app™s power play tally that put Fort Wayne up 1-0.
°®¶¹appœWe talked about it after the first period, that wasn°®¶¹app™t the level that we°®¶¹app™re familiar playing at and we had to find our game,°®¶¹app Kallechy said. °®¶¹appœIt was kind of a lucky bounce, and we could have used one more of those.°®¶¹app
Indy tied the game at the 5:42 mark of the second, when Kyle Maksimovich passed from behind the goal to an open Burke across the crease. Burke°®¶¹app™s one-timer found its way past Brochu to make it 1-1. Kevin Lombardi was also credited with an assist on Burke°®¶¹app™s tally.
While it was Fort Wayne scoring early in the second, Indy returned the favor in the opening moments of the third period. Just 1:13 into the third, Brochu saved a shot on a breakway by Lemos. But Maksimovich was there to collect the rebound and deposit it into the net behind Brochu, who had left his net several feet to cut down Lemos°®¶¹app™ angle to give the Fuel their first lead of the night.
The Komets earned a power play with 3:34 remaining, when Indy°®¶¹app™s Ty Farmer was called for cross checking along the boards to the right of Gaudreau. But the Fuel, who entered the game with the ECHL°®¶¹app™s second-ranked penalty kill (88.3%), kept the Komets off the scoreboard.
Brochu was pulled for an extra attacker midway through the penalty and remained off the ice even after the penalty expired. With 1:10 to go, Lemos°®¶¹app™ shot from beyond the far blue line found the empty net to put the Fuel up two goals.
Notes: The Komets skated without Ethan Keppen, who was suspended for one game and fined an undisclosed amount by the ECHL department of player safety for his match penalty for an illegal check to the head at 19:41 of the first period of Fort Wayne°®¶¹app™s 5-3 win Saturday over Wheeling at the Coliseum. °®¶¹app¦ The referees were Evan Reddick and Dylan Sater, while Benjamin Gawlik and Blake Butler served as linesmen. °®¶¹app¦ Fort Wayne finished 1 of 6 on the power play, while Indy was 1 of 5. °®¶¹app¦ The Komets accumulated 95 total penalty minutes, with the Fuel earning 73.
