Zack Rawson | Special to The Journal Gazette
Komets defenseman Marcus McIvor, front, chases the puck in the corner as he’s followed by the Wheeling Nailers’ Austin Fyten on Sunday in Wheeling, West Virginia.
Zack Rawson | Special to The Journal Gazette
Komets forward Justin Vaive, left, fights the Wheeling Nailers Kyle Marino on Sunday in Wheeling, West Virginia. Previous Next
Sunday, April 18, 2021 9:00 pm
3rd game in 47 hours for Fort Wayne, which plays next 5 against Wheeling
K s run out of steam, lose 5-3 to Nailers
JUSTIN A. COHN | The Journal Gazette
Stephen Harper blasted a shot into an open net, after Wheeling Nailers goaltender Taran Kozun got caught out of position playing the puck, and it looked as if the Komets might just pull off another third-period comeback today.
Apr 18, 2021
Wheeling Nails it Against Komets, 5-3
WHEELING, WV- The Wheeling Nailers got a nice bounceback effort on Sunday afternoon, as they exacted revenge on the Fort Wayne Komets with a 5-3 triumph at WesBanco Arena. Michael Joly and Patrick Watling both had two goals and two assists to lead the offensive attack for the Nailers, who now have points in five straight home games. The Nailers got a bit of everything in the first period, as they jumped out to a 2-0 lead. The power play struck first at the 8:49 mark. Michael Joly swept a shot in from the bottom of the right circle, which created a scrum, and allowed the puck to pop out to Joshua Winquist, who stepped in and snapped home the goal. Joly scored the next one for Wheeling, as he converted a give-and-go with Jacob Pritchard, by clobbering in a one-timer from the top of the right circle. The Nailers got some dynamic penalty killing in the back half of the stanza, as they thwarted seven minutes of Fort Wayne power play t
Hawkins shines again for K s, who surely want to keep him
Has hat trick in 6-2 victory over Wheeling
JUSTIN A. COHN | The Journal Gazette
The single most frequent question this beat writer gets is: “What can the Komets do to keep Brandon Hawkins?” I’ve heard it from contractors in my house, fans on the street, and reporters around the league.
They can’t be blamed; Hawkins is off to one of the more remarkable starts in Komets history. With a hat trick Friday in a 6-2 victory over the Wheeling Nailers, Hawkins has totaled 18 goals and 28 points in 26 games.
Apr 17, 2021
Former Nailer Hawkins Hat Trick Propels Komets
FORT WAYNE, IN- Brandon Hawkins scored lots of big goals for the Wheeling Nailers during the 2019-20 season, but on Friday night, he haunted his former club. Fort Wayne s leading scorer netted his second hat trick as part of a game-high 11-shot attack, as the Komets snapped Wheeling s six-game point streak with a 6-2 victory at Allen County War Memorial Coliseum. The Komets took a pair of leads in the first period, with a Wheeling goal sandwiched in the middle. The first goal came at the 4:11 mark, when the Nailers turned the puck over in their own zone and Brandon Hawkins immediately sniped a shot into the right side of the net. Wheeling drew even later in the stanza with a 4-on-4 tally, as Matt Alfaro broke in on the left side and whipped a shot through Louis-Phillip Guindon s legs. With 30 seconds remaining, Fort Wayne got its lead back with Hawkins second of the night, as he clipped in a one-time feed from Randy Ga
K s frustrated by missed chances, officiating in loss
JUSTIN A. COHN | The Journal Gazette
The Komets dominated puck possession and scoring opportunities Saturday night. But when the final buzzer blared, the Indy Fuel had outscored Fort Wayne 6-3, in front of 3,111 restless fans at Memorial Coliseum.
“It s a frustrating loss,” Komets coach Ben Boudreau said. “But if you re going to lose, you want to lose playing the right way. I thought our effort was there. It seems like they capitalized on every single chance that they got. But I thought we skated them into the ground. Their goalie was pretty good, but we ve just got to find a way to regroup and win the series (today).”