Special Teams Lifts Komets Past Thunder

FORT WAYNE, IN (Mar. 11) - Fort Wayne used a five-goal second period to skate past Wichita on Wednesday night, 7-2, at Memorial Coliseum.

Ostap Safin and Peter Crinella found the back of the net for the Thunder in the losing effort.

After a scoreless first period, Brady Shaw broke the tie as he fired a wrist shot through a screen at 2:21 to make it 1-0. Safin quickly got the Thunder on the board less than a minute later as he caught a pass from Stefan Fournier and beat Stefanos Lekkas to tie it at one. The Komets scored the next four to grab a hold of the game. At 6:51, Drake Rysmha came down the middle of ice from center and beat Dylan Wells with a wrist shot to make it 2-1. Shawn Szydlowski scored a power play tally at 9:16 to make it 3-1. Just over a minute later, Mason Bergh tapped home a rebound past Wells to make it 4-1. Shaw book-ended the period with a shorthanded goal at 17:20 to make it 5-1.

At the start of the third, Mitch Gillam came on in relief for Wells. The Thunder got on the board as Peter Crinella scored early to cut the lead to 5-2. He appeared to be going around the net, but a shot got through the legs of Lekkas and past him for Crinella's 19th of the season. Brett McKenzie recorded a pair of power play goals to close the scoring down the stretch for the 7-2. win.

Wichita's streak of power play goals was snapped tonight, going 0-for-5. Fournier, Exell and Merasty collected assists.

Wichita continues its seven-game road trip on Friday night with a visit to Indy starting at 6:35 p.m. CST.

Individual tickets for the rest of the season are on sale now. To learn more, click here or contact a Thunder representative at the office today!

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-Thunder-