Postgame recap presented by AleworX Stateline
The Tahoe Knight Monsters weren’t able to hold a 2-1 lead against the Fort Wayne Komets and ended up losing 5-2 in the first game of the second half. Simon Pinard and Logan Nelson both scored, but it wasn’t enough against a fiery Komet offense and shutdown defense.
FW started the scoring in the first with a pretty passing sequence that resulted in a tap in goal on the backdoor against Tahoe netminder Jesper Vikman. But the Knight Monsters would respond with a buzzer beating power play goal by Logan Nelson for the equalizer.
Tied up at one entering the second, Tahoe notched the go-ahead tally on a beautiful transition rush from Sloan Stanick to Simon Pinard. Pinard finished the feed from Stanick for his 21st goal of the season.
After an ice sheet issue forced the second intermission to begin early, the Komets scored just three seconds into play on a one-time rocket from Kyle Mayhew that rippled past Vikman. And Fort Wayne would take the lead three minutes into the third on a power play strike from Alex Petruzzelli to make the score 3-2.
Tahoe put up a fight throughout the third, but they were unable to punch through FW netminder Brendan Brochu, who finished the contest with 30 saves on 32 shots seen.
The Komets tacked on two empty net goals, both by Justin Taylor, to seal the deal late in the third. And the buzzer sounded on a 5-2 loss for the Knight Monsters, who fell to 24-12-2-1.
Vikman finished the game with 25 saves on 28 shots seen but was saddled with his fifth loss of the year. Tahoe will look for revenge in game two of the series against Fort Wayne, with puck drop on Saturday scheduled for 7 pm. And, after every Knight Monsters home game check out a postgame party at AleWorX Stateline for wood-fired pizza, self-serve beer, and great scenery.
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