Warning’s ot tally keeps Mallards alive

The Quad City Mallards fought off elimination in its East Coast Hockey League Central Division semi-final match against the Fort Wayne Komets on Friday with a win on home ice while the Toledo kept alive the trend of home ice teams taking the win to pull ahead of the visiting Kalamazoo Wings and move to within a win of advancing to the Division final.

The Mallards, an affiliate of the Tampa Lightning, were one shot away from the off season, but stayed alive with Sam Warning’s second goal of the series lifting the home team to a 3-2 overtime win at the iWireless Center against the Komets.

The Walleye, ECHL affiliate of the Detroit Red Wings, meanwhile grabbed a 2-0 series lead with wins on home ice before the Kalamazoo Wings, affiliated with the Minnesota Wild, took it all back with a pair of wins on home ice as well. The Walleye recaptured control of the series at the Huntington Center as AJ Jenks broke a 2-2 deficit with the lone goal of the final period just 23 seconds from the final buzzer.

Komets 2 at Mallards 3 (ot)

Needing a win to stay alive, the Mallards busted out of the gate with a goal from Josh MacDonald just 31 seconds into the contest from Andrew Panzarella and Alex Petan. That stood up as the lone goal of the opening period, but Mike Wilson doubled the margin for the home team 72 seconds into the middle frame from Brady Brassart and MacDonald.

Jason Brinkley scored his first of the series to get the Komets on the board about three minutes later from Kyle Thomas and Mike Cazzola. Jamie Schaafsma completed the Komets’ comeback at the 9:29 mark from Shawn Szydkowski and Ryan Lowney.

Teams battled through a scoreless third period and were 16 seconds from a blank overtime segment when Warning nailed his second of the series from Brassart and Chris Leibinger.

C.J. Motte picked up the win in goal with a 36 save effort and Pat Nagle also made 36 stops in goal for the Komets.

Game five in this series was also scheduled to be played at the iWireless Center in Moline, IL and if needed, games six and seven will be back at Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, Monday and Wednesday respectively.

Walleye 3 at Wings 2

After a pair of wide open games that resulted in 25 goals scored in Toledo, teams rediscovered the defense in this one.

Cameron Darcy had the visitors on the board first with his third of the series and the lone marker of the opening period from Peter Schneider and Blake Kessel.

Zach Nastasiuk tied it with his goal just past the halfway mark of the second from Justin Agosta and Alden Hirschfeld. It was the first point of the series for all three.

Brian Hart’s third, from Eric Kattelus and Tyler Biggs had the Wings in front again with 3:41 to go in the second but Tyson Spink fired his third of the set 23 seconds from the second period buzzer to tie it up again from Evan Rankin and Landon Oslanski.

That set the stage for Jenks with his first point of the series from Kyle Bonis and Kyle Berschbach with 23 seconds to play.

Jake Paterson made 22 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Walleye, Nic Riopel, stopping 24 for the Wings.

Game six in this series will be back at the Wings Event Center in Kalamazoo with a seventh game played back in Toledo on Tuesday, if needed.