On Fort Wayne's sixth and last goal Sunday night, give the goal to No. 22 Mike Vaskivuo instead of No. 61 Chris Auger. The goal was unassisted.
Now, c'mon, admit it, as you read that you heard Larry's voice, didn't you?
Bobby Chaumont leaps in pain after getting hit in the head with a slap shot during a third-period Fort Wayne power play. He came back two shifts later to score the Komets' fifth goal and seconds later Mike Vaskivuo added a sixth.
Chris Auger scores on the power play in front off a Leo Thomas rebound.
Then Mike Vaskivuo scored from a hard-angle shot off a Colin Chaulk rebound to chase Adam Russo to the showers.
J.M. Rizk got the Komets' first goal after a strong forecheck by Stephon Thorne and Kaleigh Schrock forced a turnover in the Wichita zone. A Wichita defenseman knocked the net off a split second before Rizk scored, but referee Marc-Andre Lavoie ruled the goal was good under rule 63.6.
Rizk might get more than one tonight. He was all over the front of the Thunder net in the first period.
I've got some video of his goal coming up later.
Expect Wichita to come back hard and early in tonight's game. Russo will also be better after a shaky first game. I'd normally say Komets have to be more disciplined with their penalties, but maybe not. That's how ineffective Wichita's power play is right now. It's fascinating to watch. Thunder had seven pp chances and the Komets only two in Game 1, but I can't say that referee Peter Tarnaris got any of the calls wrong. They were legitimate penalties against the Komets, often to save scoring chances.
Here's what the final minute looked like as the Thunder tried to tie up the game.
Nick stopping Wichita's Thomas Beauregard.
Beauregard came back two minutes later to score off a 2-on-1 to tie the game at 3-3.
First, Jamie Milam off a backhand after a turnover.
Then Bobby Chaumont off a deflection on a Brett Smith shot.
It's 2-1 now and Wichita is coming on. Shots are 15-10 Fort Wayne.
David Starenky was talking to everyone on Wichita's side during warmups, particularly Justin Sawyer, here, and Erick Lizon.
The banners include former Komets Ron Handy and Rob Weingartner.
