Fort Wayne, IN – The Toledo Walleye fell tonight to the Fort Wayne Komets by a score of 5-1 at the Memorial Coliseum. Conlan Keenan scored Toledo’s only goal, and Will Hillman had the assist on the goal. 

How it Happened:

Toledo took the game’s first penalty 1:51 into the game, as Chad Hillebrand was called for interference. Fort Wayne capitalized on their chance, as Jayden Grubbe scored at the 3:29 mark for the Komets, giving them the 1-0 lead.

Conlan Keenan tied the game after some hard-fought puck battles, scoring his second goal of the season at the 10:35 mark of the first. Will Hillman got the lone assist on the goal. James Stefan took a roughing penalty, which put Toledo on the power-play a minute and a half later, but did not convert.

Alex Aleardi added another goal for Fort Wayne from the hash marks at the 15:04 mark of the first period, putting the Komets up 2-1. That lead held through the end of the first period, as Fort Wayne had nine shots on goal to Toledo’s six. 

It didn’t take the Komets too long to score in the second, as Alex Aleardi scored his second goal of the night just 1:13 into the second period. Toledo got their second chance of a power play a little over a minute later as the Komets took a kneeing penalty but did not score. 

Toledo took a slashing penalty at the 10:37 mark of the second period to give the Komets their second power play chance of the night, which they took advantage of for the second time tonight. Jayden Grubbe got credit for the goal, his second power-play goal of the night. Former Walleye Jalen Smereck has an assist on each of Fort Wayne’s power-play goals tonight. 

The Komets got a third chance at the power play as Toledo took a tripping penalty in their offensive zone at the 13:50 mark of the second period, which was killed off. Toledo took another penalty five minutes later (at the 18:47 mark), leaving Fort Wayne on the power play for the rest of the second period. The Walleye only got four shots in the second period as they remain outshot by Fort Wayne 21-10 heading into the third period. 

Zach Jordan added Fort Wayne’s 5^th goal of the night at the 4:43 mark of the third, giving the Komets a 4-goal lead. The Komets took a penalty with 56 seconds to go in the period, giving Toledo their third chance at the power play down by four. The Walleye finished the game with 14 shots on goal, their lowest shot total of the season. Their next lowest was 17, which they did on a Wednesday morning against Cincinnati, however the Fish came away with a win. Toledo’s power play finished 0-for-3, and the PK killed off 3 of 5 penalties called on them. 

Three Stars:

1 – F Alex Aleardi, FW (2 G)

2 – F Jayden Grubbe, FW (2 G)

3 – G Nathaniel Day, FW (13 SV, .928 SV%)

What’s Next:

The Walleye have two days off before taking on Bloomington for the third time this season, the first matchup between the two teams at the Huntington Center. The Walleye and Bison saw each other twice in Bloomington in late October and split their two games. It will be the last of three early-morning games that the Walleye play this season, as the game on Wednesday is set to begin at 10:35 AM.