Dayton head coach Brian Gratz, a Fort Wayne native, called it a “nightmare game.”
“Nobody came prepared to play,” an angry Gratz said. “We were bad from the coach on down. It’s unacceptable. And it will never happen again.”
The Komets (3-3-0) came out flying and overwhelmed Dayton from the opening faceoff. Jean-Michel Rizk (two goals) gave Fort Wayne a 1-0 lead just 2:08 in when his fanned shot fooled Bryan Hogan. Jamie Milam extended the lead at 10:42 with a blast from the high slot that Hogan got a piece of but couldn’t stop. Seven minutes later, Milam added a third to cap a one-sided period.
It snowballed in the second when Artem Podshendyalov scored at 2:22. Frankie DeAngelis and Bobby Chaumont then added power-play goals less than two minutes apart with Dayton’s Kyle Bochek in the box for a high-sticking double minor.
“Some of our young guys got going, and our defense was stifling,” said coach Al Sims, who had been concerned about the Komets’ goal production. “When we were up 3-0, I reminded them that Dayton came back to win down 3-0 against Quad City. You don’t want to take anything for granted.”
Brandon Naurato scored twice for Dayton (2-2-2), both on the power play just 71 seconds apart in the second period. Though the goals came with the Gems trailing 6-0, the 26-year-old from Livonia, Mich., has haunted his former club after requesting a release last season.
He has six goals and four assists in 11 career games against Fort Wayne since joining the Gems.
Naurato’s linemates, Damian Surma and Brett Lutes, assisted on both goals.
Slap shots
Fort Wayne outshot the Gems 13-3 in the opening 20 minutes and 38-26 overall ... Kristofer Westblom relieved Hogan after Podshendyalov made it 4-0 ... Komets goaltender Nick Boucher made 24 saves to earn the win ... CHL commissioner Duane Lewis was in town to take in the game. Lewis has been making the rounds to various CHL cities with Dayton being the last stop.
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