Louick Marcotte scored twice, Shawn Szydlowski delivered a goal and two assists and Garrett Bartus made 34 saves as the Fort Wayne Komets (19-8-2) pulled away to blank the host Quad City Mallards (8-18-3) 5-0 Saturday night. 

 

Mason Baptista jammed in the first goal of what was a tightly contested game most of the evening at 15:02 of second period. The Komets were shorthanded when Marcotte steered in Daniel Maggio's centering pass to make 2-0 two minutes, eight seconds later .

 

The Komets put the game beyond the Mallards' reach with three third period goals in just over three minutes. Garrett Thompson extended the Fort Wayne lead to 3-0 by shoveling a rebound home at 7:30 of the third. At 9:17, Szydlowski pounced on another rebound. Just one minute,18 seconds later Marcotte scored the Komets' fifth from the left wing circle.

 

Bartus was at his busiest while keeping the game scoreless by stopping 14 Mallard shots in the first period. The Komets pumped 52 shots at the Mallard net on the way victory as Eric Hartzell took the loss in goal despite a 47-save effort.

 

The Mallards return to action on the road tomorrow against the Kalamazoo Wings. The Mallards next play at home Friday night, January 12 at 7:05 p.m. against the Indy Fuel. January 12 also brings the return of $2 Dog/$2 Beer Night presented by 97X. Fans can enjoy $2 hot dogs and beers from TaxSlayer Center concession stands during every Friday home game. In addition, the Mallards have partnered with Metro to provide transit service between Augustana College and downtown Moline during all Friday home games. As part of Metro's unlimited ride program, Augustana riders can use their Augustana ID as their fare.

 

Tickets for the January 12 contest and all Mallards regular season home games are now on sale at the TaxSlayer Center box office, Ticketmaster toll free charge-by-phone (1-800-745-3000) and ticketmaster.com. The box office is open weekdays from 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.