Fury remain two points shy of playoff berth

Thu, Apr 10, 2008    to del.icio.us

FORT WAYNE, Ind. — The Muskegon Fury took Fort Wayne to overtime, but the Komets skated away with their 25th straight home victory, topping the Fury 4-3 Wednesday.

With Isaac Reichmuth out of net in favor of the extra attacker, the Fury tied the game with 17.3 seconds remaining in regulation when Mark Cadotte scored his 15th of the season. Philippe Plante and Dan Riedel assisted on the goal for the Fury.

With 2:08 left in overtime, Dupuis blasted a shot past Reichmuth from the right circle, giving the Komets the victory.

The Fury opened the scoring in the first period, when Riedel scored from the bottom of the right circle 6 minutes and 44 seconds into the contest. David Herring and Mark Cadotte assisted on the goal, Riedel's 28th of the season.

In the second period, Fort Wayne scored three times to build a 3-1 lead. Mitch Woods scored at 3:16, Guy Dupuis scored at 6:43 then Terry Marchant added a short-handed goal at 11:39. The Fury cut the Komet lead to 3-2 on a power play goal from Riedel 17:07 into the period, putting in the rebound of a Dave VanDrunen shot. Billy Collins also assisted on the goal for the Fury.

Reichmuth finished with 34 saves in net for the Fury, taking the loss. Kevin Reiter had 26 saves to get the win for Fort Wayne.

With the loss, the Fury fall to 34-34-4-2 on the season. Muskegon now has 74 points, and thanks to a Kalamazoo loss, the Fury need just two points to clinch the fourth and final playoff berth in the IHL.

The Fury return to the ice Friday in their final home game of the season against the Bloomington Prairie Thunder.