Justin A. Cohn | The Journal Gazette
Matt Firman, right, sends a pass from behind the Wheeling net in the Komets’ 1-0 loss today.

Fort Wayne, IN - The Fort Wayne Komets allowed the fewest shots on goal all season in the first period. There was no question about the Komets’ (27-28-2) scoring chances or play in this loss. The Wheeling Nailers (23-22-9) were undeterred however, and rebounded to have a respectable number of shots. The only goal came late in the third period as Nailers forward Paul Crowder netted his 17th of the year on the power play with 3:33 left in the game. Jeff Deslauriers was again outstanding in net, but lacked offense to win.

Coach Al Sims had this to say after the game:

“This was just a microcosm of the whole season. We haven’t been able to score much all year and tonight, (goaltender Peter) Delmas, we either made him look good or he played unbelievable. It doesn’t matter which. The fact of the matter is we couldn’t get a goal despite 44 shots.”

The K’s are still hopeful of making the playoffs in their first season in the ECHL. Komets center Eric Giosa echoed the sentiment of his teammates:

“We certainly still expect to make the playoffs. We expect to make a push. We’ve just got to get some goals in the net and string together some wins.”

For the Komets, it’s that simple and that hard. They are currently eight points out of the final spot, which is currently occupied by the Elmira Jackals. The K’s have just 15 games remaining to make the push.

Team Statistics:

Score by Period:

Team	1	2	3	Total
Wheeling Nailers	0	0	1	1
Fort Wayne Komets	0	0	0	0

 SOG:

SHOTS	1	2	3	Total
Wheeling Nailers	2	16	11	29
Fort Wayne Komets	23	13	8	44

 Power Play Efficiency

Prd	Wheeling Nailers	Fort Wayne Komets
1st	0-1	0-1
2nd	0-3	0-0
3rd	1-1	0-1
Total	1-5	0-2

Three Stars:

Star	Team	Pos/Name	Stats
	Wheeling Nailers	G Peter Delmas	0 GA, 44 SVS
	Fort Wayne Komets	G Jeff Deslauriers	1 GA, 28 SVS
	Wheeling Nailers	F Paul Crowder	1 G, 0 A, +1, 6 Shots

The Komets continue their home stand Wednesday night against the Toledo Walleye at 7:30 p.m. EST.

Michelle Davies – The Journal Gazette
In the second period of Friday’s game Komets’ Matt Syroczynski tries to get the puck in the goal against the defense of Kalamazoo’s goalie Joel Martin.

Fort Wayne, IN - The Fort Wayne Komets (24-20-2) fell in an abysmal performance at home to the Kalamazoo Wings (20-20-5) 5-1. The Wings came out strong with a four-goal first period.

First Period:

The Komets would like to forget the first period of play. The defense gave up a total of four goals. Starting goalie Marco Cousineau was chased after giving up the third goal of the night 16:50 into the opening frame. The Wings scored the first goal at the 7:15 mark by defenseman Elgin Reid. The second goal when winger Aaron Clarke at the 15:46 mark. Wings defenseman Yann Sauve scored the goal that chased Cousineau. Charlie Effinger came into the game since rookie netminder Kenny Reiter was recalled to Bridgeport of the AHL. Kalamazoo winger Alexandre Grenier closed out the scoring just about two minutes after Effinger came in net. Fort Wayne native Kaleigh Shcrock got tired of the scoring and tried to spark the team by dropping gloves against the visitor’s forward Harry Young with 13 seconds remaining in the opening frame.

Michelle Davies – The Journal Gazette
In the second period of Friday’s game Matt Syroczynski, of the Komets, stretches out to put himself in a position for a shot on goal with Nick Sirota, of the Kalamazoo Wings trying to get in front of him.

Second Period:

The second frame was a little kinder. Effinger left in only one goal to forward John Armstrong. The Komets power play woes continued going 0-for-3 in the frame. Wing goalie Joel Martin was still outstanding in net.

Third Period:

The K’s finally got on the board 9:14 into the closing frame when Thomas Beauregard dangled a shot past Reid and Martin to get the lone Komet tally. After the game, the team had a closed-door, player-only meeting to try and figure out the reason for the poor play not only during the game, but at home in general.

“We’re not worried about getting fired up for starts. We were ready at the start of the game. We just didn’t play our game; there were way too many turnovers in the first period between the blue lines. And we were constantly chasing them into our zone instead of being in the offensive zone. We’ve got to play the same way every night to be successful and we didn’t play that way in the first period.”

- Coach Al Sims after the game

Team Statistics:

SOG:

SHOTS	1	2	3	Total
	10	9	8	27
	8	14	14	36

 Power Play Efficiency

Prd
1st	0-0	0-0
2nd	0-1	0-3
3rd	0-0	0-1
Total	0-1	0-4

Score by Period:

Team	1	2	3	Total
	4	1	0	5
	0	0	1	1

Three Stars:

Star	Team	Pos/Name	Stats
		Goalie Joel Martin	1 GA, 35 SVS
		Forward John Armstrong	1 G, 1 A, +3, 6 Shots
		Left Wing Aaron Clarke	1 G, 1 A, +2, 3 Shots

The Komets will face off against the division leading Cincinnati Cyclones (26-15-5) tonight at 7:30 p.m. EST.