One should pity the team that has to play the Komets on New Year’s Eve.

Energized by a crowd of 9,497 at Memorial Coliseum, forward Mike Embach had one goal and four assists as the Komets exploded for a 7-0 victory tonight over the Indy Fuel – their 12th victory in their last 14 games on Dec. 31

Goaltender Pat Nagle made 37 saves for his second shutout in four games. Forward Garrett Meurs had two goals and was plus-4. And defenseman Jordon Southorn had three assists.

The Komets are 40-14-5 all-time in New Year’s Eve games at the Coliseum – including back-to-back victories over the Fuel – and the Komets improved to 4-0-1 in their last five games.

They are 4-1-1 this season against the Fuel and the teams meet again Saturday in Indianapolis.

There was slew of hitting by both teams throughout the first period, but there weren’t many scoring chances before Nagle stopped a 20-foot blast from Indy defenseman Zach Miskovic at 10:15.

Defenseman Drew Daniels, who also was plus-4, netted a shot from the right circle to give the Komets a 1-0 lead at 13:47. Three of his four goals this season have come against the Fuel, which got a great save from goalie Shane Owen on a Shawn Szydlowski backhand from point-blank range at 15:50.

But that save wasn’t as good as the one made by Nagle at 18:50; sliding to his left, his gloved a 25-foot shot from defenseman Ben Marshall that was about to slip just underneath the crossbar.

That’s when things really took off for the Komets (15-10-2).

Captain Jamie Schaafsma made it 2-0 with two seconds left in the period, sliding a 20-foot shot underneath Owen. And even though they’d been outshot 14-11, the Komets went up 3-0 on Garrett Thompson’s shot from just left of the goal 3:37 into the second period.

Thompson is on a five-game point-scoring streak. So is Nikita Kashirsky, who set up Thompson’s goal.

Embach, who has a point in four of the last five games and was selected the ECHL’s Player of the Week on Tuesday, skated in one-on-one against defenseman Sam Jardine and snapped a 30-foot shot past Owen for a 4-0 lead at 10:44. Owen, who stopped only 10 of 14 shots, was then replaced by Jordan Ruby.

Shortly after that, Fort Wayne’s Cody Sol fought Indy’s Patrick Koudys.

It didn’t energize the Fuel (14-16-2) as much as the Komets, who got two goals from Meurs and another from Dean Ouellet in the span of 3:57 for a 7-0 lead. It was Ouellet’s first game back in the lineup after missing 13 with an undisclosed injury.

To make room, the Komets released Reid Halabi, who was scoreless in six games.

jcohn@jg.net