The Komets evened their best-of-seven first-round Kelly Cup playoff series with a 5-2 win over Iowa at the Coliseum on Saturday.
For the second night, Iowa landed the first goal on a power-play at 3:13, with Alex Aleardi answering for the Komets with his third goal of the series at 11:48, with assists coming from Jack Dugan and Odeen Tufto. The first-period scoring was concluded with a Blake Murray goal at 18:36 to give the Komets their first series lead at 2-1.
In the second period, Dugan tallied his first goal of the playoffs at 5:53, with assists credited to Murray and Matt Murphy to make it a 3-1 game after two periods.
Iowa’s Jules Boscq started the scoring 27 seconds into the third period to pull the Heartlanders within one. Jack Dugan answered for the Komets with a shot from the center line that beat goaltender William Rousseau to push the lead back up to two goals. Iowa’s Adam Goodsir took a hooking penalty at 2:37, and the Komets’ Kirill Tyutyayev scored on the ensuing power play with assists from Dugan and defenseman Owen Gallatin. Dugan finished the game with two goals and two assists, and Brett Brochu made 22 saves for the win.
