TOSTI: Swamp Rabbits Early Advantage Leads to Point in Overtime
Greenville and Fort Wayne need extra time to decide tonight’s contest in a non-conference matchup.
BY: Brian Tosti, Greenville Swamp Rabbits
Fort Wayne, IN – The Greenville Swamp Rabbits (20-30-4-1), proud ECHL affiliate of the New York Rangers and the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack, earned a point tonight at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum forcing their contest with the Fort Wayne Komets (37-13-2-1) into overtime. The Komets came back to take a 3-2 victory in the extra period after Greenville tallied two goals in the first period.
Power plays ruled the first period of the rematch as Greenville and Fort Wayne each took goals on the man advantage. The Komets opened the scoring though, taking advantage of a Greenville injury in order to score. Goaltender Greg Dodds began the night for Greenville making five saves, but it was the fifth shot that put the netminder out of the game. Dodds went down with an injury and the Komets played on, working the puck over to Shawn Szydlowski in the left circle. Greenville’s goaltender got a piece of the puck but not enough to keep it out. Dodds was helped off the ice after the goal at 7:04 of the first period, making way for Ty Rimmer to enter in relief.
In response, the Swamp Rabbits took a pair of power plays and delivered with two goals. In the final 10 seconds on the power play, Brenden Kotyk launched a shot from the left side of the ice. Goaltender Michael Houser made a pad save but the rebound bounced off the skate of McKay and kicked right to Garret Clemment on the right side of the crease. The rookie potted his fourth of the season to equalize the game less than three minutes later.
Greenville’s next power play was not as long. Sean Flanagan collected the puck off a clean faceoff win by McKay and walked across the blue line. The rookie defenseman used a quick fake to open up some space before launching a shot toward the net. His howitzer was rifled over the right shoulder of Houser to take a 2-1 advantage. Flanagan’s third goal of the season helped push Greenville to sustain the lead into the first intermission. The Swamp Rabbits ended the game 2-for-5 on the power play while the Komets finished 1-for-3.
Fort Wayne took one faceoff in the defensive zone in the second period and managed to race down the ice on an odd-man rush. Garrett Thompson moved down the left wing side of the ice and pushed the puck toward Rimmer. The shot was blocked and bounced into the crease with an open net for Artur Tyanulin to jam the puck into the net. The goal tied the contest at 4:35 to play in the period.
Fort Wayne continued to pepper the net with a game-high 16 shots in the second period. Rimmer continued to hold strong in net, ending the game with 31 saves in nearly 56 minutes of relief work. Greenville also fed chances toward the net including a late shot by Daniel Echeverri that rang the crossbar. Komets goaltender Michael Houser earned 22 saves in the victory. The goaltenders kept the game in check for the third period, forcing the contest into overtime.
Tyanulin worked the puck over the offensive line nearly three minutes into the extra period and fought toward the net. The Swamp Rabbits covered the pass, forcing the winger to take a backhanded shot from the side of the net. He was able to tuck it just under the crossbar in a small window, giving the Komets a 3-2 victory. The Swamp Rabbits earned a point by forcing overtime, but could not stop the Komets from earning their 11th win in 12 games.
The Swamp Rabbits face the Toledo Walleye tomorrow night at 5:15 p.m. to wrap up a three-game weekend against the Central Division.
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