Jared Knight and Vladimir Nikiforov scored second period goals and P.J. Musico made 31 saves as the Quad City Mallards (30-25-6) defeated the host Fort Wayne Komets (35-20-7) 2-1 Friday night.

In the wake of the victory, the Mallards maintain their hold on eighth place and final playoff berth in the ECHL's Western Conference.

The Mallards battled back after giving up the game's first goal. Knight evened the score by burying a rebound at 10:46 of the second. Just 25 seconds later Musico stopped Shawn Szydlowski's penalty shot to keep the game tied. The Mallards were on the power play when Nikiforov broke the deadlock from close range at the 13-minute mark.

Trevor Cheek tipped in Cody Sol's drive from the right point to open the scoring at 3:05 of the first period but Musico would stonewall the Komets for the final 56 minutes and 55 seconds.

The Mallards and Komets meet again tomorrow night in Fort Wayne. The Mallards next play at home Sunday at 4:05 p.m. against the Indy Fuel. The first 1,000 fans ages 12 and under through the doors for Sunday's game will receive free Mallards youth replica jerseys courtesy of WQAD News 8. Fans can join the Mallards on the ice after the game for Skate with the Mallards presented by B100.

Single game tickets for all Mallards regular season home games- including Sunday’s contest- are on sale now at the iWireless Center box office, Ticketmaster outlets, ticketmaster.com and Ticketmaster charge-by-phone toll free at 1-800-745-3000. 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. Tickets are available for $10, $16, $20 and $24.