Heading into Rockford on Saturday night, a lot of things could have gone wrong for the Fort Wayne Komets. The Komets were coming off a poor performance the night before in a 2-1 home loss to Muskegon, they had been embarrassed 5-1 in their last trip to Rockford and it was their third game in three nights.
The Komets pulled together to win 4-3 in a shootout and extend their Western Division lead to six points over the IceHogs. They also improved their road record to 4-3.
``We played really well,'' Komets coach Pat Bingham said. ``That was perhaps our best team win where everybody in the dressing room contributed.''
The Komets had led throughout the game and had a 3-2 lead until halfway through the third period when Rockford scored on a two-man advantage.
``Their crowd was giving them a lot of energy, and we still had a penalty to kill and I comtemplated a time out and asked the guys if we needed one,'' Bingham said. ``They all felt confident enough that they were OK, and we went back out and killed it. That was a big momentum swing, and by the last shift of the game we had them bottled up in their own zone, and they were playing preventative because we were getting chances. It was nice to see that confidence and the will to win.''
The line of Bruce Richardson, Jonathan Goodwin and Daniel Goneau broke a slump with three goals, including two by Richardson. J.C. Ruid scored in the shootout, and goaltender Kevin St. Pierre stopped all five Rockford shooters.
``There were several players that showed us more than they have,'' Bingham said. ``It's a challenge involved here because it was a tough task to go in there. I thought we got good solid performances from everybodd and that's what you hope for. I like the way everybody responded and rose to the challenge. They didn't try to do too much, they just played very hard and were mindful of the details.''
The Komets come home to play Quad City on Friday and Rockford on Saturday and end a stretch of playing seven of nine games at home. Then they hit the road for three straight road games and seven of 10 away from Memorial Coliseum.
