Photo Courtesy of the Fort Wayne Komets [https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/857b15bf-bc0c-466a-b53c-eac88907e5a2.png] Photo Courtesy of the Fort Wayne Komets It’s always painful when a storybook season comes to an end, especially when it feels like it had only just begun. The Iowa Heartlanders [https://iowaheartlanders.com/]completed their fourth season in the ECHL [https://thehockeynews.com/echl/]having set franchise records for wins (36) and points (83), making the Kelly Cup Playoffs for the first time. It looked as if they might get past the Fort Wayne Komets [https://komets.com/]in the first round after taking a 3-2 lead in the Central Division Semifinals. Alas, the Komets dashed those hopes by winning the final two games, including a 4-1 victory in Game 7 Tuesday in Fort Wayne. The Heartlanders were hoping to force the Komets into a slower pace. It worked, at least for a while. Iowa scored the first goal for the sixth time in the series on a Ryan Miotto tally at the 5:36 mark of the opening frame. That goal seemed to wake up the Komets, who managed just three shots in the game’s first five minutes. They scored three goals in a span of 12 minutes to snatch the momentum. In the second period, Blake Murray notched his third goal of the series to tie the score 1-1 with Alex Aleardi and Darren Brady picking up assists. Alex Swetlikoff got a power-play goal at 10:19 and an Ethan Keppen tally at 13:04 gave Fort Wayne a 3-1 lead after 40 minutes. The Komets managed to withstand 18 shots from Iowa and kill two penalties in the third, and Anthony Petruzzelli put in an empty-netter to give the Komets the 4-1 victory and the series in seven games. Komets goaltender Nathan Day made 32 saves to earn the win, while William Rousseau stopped 17 of 20 shots in the loss. The Komets now move to the Central Division Finals for a showdown with the top-seeded Toledo Walleye, who swept the Indy Fuel in their best-of-seven Division Semifinals series. Game 1 is Friday at the Huntington Center in Toledo.
