Fort Wayne, IN- The Cyclones fell short of a comeback Friday night, falling 4-2 to the Fort Wayne Komets on the road.
The loss drops Cincinnati to 3-2 on the season, while the Komets improve to 2-1.
- Fort Wayne outshot Cincinnati 12-3 in the first frame, and capitalized on a deep slot drive five minutes in by Connor Corcoran, beating Michael Houser for the 1-0 edge.
- Matt Mcleod scored his second goal in as many nights, rifling a wrist shot from the right circle past Komets' goaltender Stefanos Lekkas to tie the game 4:20 into the second. Fort Wayne retaliated two minutes later on a power play goal from Matt Alvaro. The Komets extended their lead to a pair of goals once Kellen Jones buried a shot initially taken from Anthony Petruzzelli. The puck squeaked underneath Houser and sat in the crease for Alvaro to make it 3-1.
- Cincinnati pulled back to within one 6:15 into the third. Nick Boka (a former Komet who received his Kelly Cup ring along with Justin Vaive earlier in the night) fired a shot from atop the blue line that was tipped in front by Patrick Polino, giving the Buffalo, NY native his first goal of the season and making it 3-2.
- Late in the game, Nick Jermain was called for tripping. The Cyclones were given a 5-on-4 power play with just over two minutes left, then followed by pulling Houser to make it a 6-on-4 sequence with over a minute to play. The defending Kelly Cup Champions prevented the 'Clones from converting, and instead buried an empty net goal the other way.
"I thought we battled back as the game went on," said Cyclones veteran forward Louie Caporusso. "The things we could take away from this are our battle and compete level in the third period. I thought we showed some promise and some tenacity and we didn't give up. We'll take that into the next game tomorrow."
- Houser drops to 1-2 on the season, making 23 saves. Lekkas stopped 17 shots for the win in his first game of the season with Fort Wayne.
Saturday's game will be the third game in three days, as the Cyclones return home to kick-off a four game homestand with the Iowa Heartlanders returning to town. Cincinnati dispatched of Iowa via a 5-3 final Thursday night.
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