CINCINNATI – Alex Belzile’s goal with 4:40 left in the second overtime gave the Komets a 3-2 victory and evened the best-of-seven Western Conference quarterfinals at two games apiece.

His rocketing shot from 30 feet out went high into the net for Fort Wayne, which has won twice in Cincinnati after coughing up the first two at Memorial Coliseum.

"It was a great team effort. We were playing all game, a team-oriented game. We played fast, moved the puck fast, and that’s what we need to do to have success," said Belzile, whose Komets outshot the Cyclones 56-31, though both teams had 17 shots in extra time.

"To come back to the goal, we had a 3-on-3 rush out of the defensive zone, and I waited a little bit before giving it to Kyle (Thomas) and once I did, I drove the net. That’s what we need to do to score goals. Kyle gave me a nice pass and I was thinking, ‘Just shoot it.’ It went high-glove side."

The Komets dominated the Cyclones in time of possession and outshot them 39-14 in regulation, but it took two Troy Bourke goals for Fort Wayne to recover from a two-goal deficit at U.S. Bank Arena, where there was a crowd of 2,170.

"We had over 50 shots and it was a heck of a win for us, and we’ll try to be not too high, not too low," said Bourke, whose Komets play Game 5 here today. "We need another good effort."

The Komets won 8-0 on the road Wednesday when Belzile and Shawn Szydlowski both scored twice and goaltender Pat Nagle had a 21-save shutout.

"It was more a mental game tonight," said Bourke, sporting bandages on his ear, where he got about eight stitches from a Game 3 high-stick by Garrett Noonan, who was suspended two games by the ECHL for the act.

"After the first OT, everyone was tired. Everyone is in good shape, but when you play that many minutes, everyone gets tired. We had to stay mentally strong and what a play by Belzile and Thomas to finish the game off. That was huge. … That shot was top-notch. It was a helluva shot. He’s a clutch player."

The Cyclones opened the scoring on their second shot, 3:45 into the first period when Jack Downing put a 30-foot shot past the Nagle's glove. That ended 64:18 of play in which a goal wasn’t allowed by Fort Wayne.

"Cincy came out with a real good push, and we expected that," Fort Wayne coach Gary Graham said. "You can’t give Jack Downing an opportunity like that from the slot. They had some good traffic and were getting in front of Nags, but we stayed with the game plan."

The Komets responded by outshooting the Cyclones 7-0 over the next 8:41, including a Brett Perlini opportunity from point-blank range, but Fort Wayne couldn’t capitalize.

Fort Wayne’s Garrett Thompson put the puck in the net at 12:16 of the second period but it was waved off because the net had been knocked off its moorings. Another Thompson goal was waved off at 13:05 because he crashed into the goalie, Brad Thiessen, to force it in, and Thompson got a penalty for goaltender interference.

While the Komets had three odd-man rushes in regulation time on which they failed to put the puck on net, the Cyclones didn’t have that problem. Christiaan Minella’s redirection at the end of a 2-on-1 rush made it 2-0 at 18:02.

The Komets solved Thiessen, the former Pittsburgh Penguins goalie, with seven seconds remaining in the second period when a barrage of shots culminated with Bourke sending the puck into an open net during a power play.

Another power-play goal, again by Bourke, tied it at 2 at 7:03 and it was set up by Mike Embach, who won a race for the puck along the dasher boards and sent a short pass to Bourke for his shot from the right circle.

The Komets are the champions of the Midwest Division and the second-seeded team in the conference. This was the first game of the series with the seventh-seeded Cyclones to go to overtime.

Fort Wayne had 13 of the 24 shots in the first overtime, during which Thiessen had big saves on Thomas, Cody Sol and Thompson, all before the Cyclones had tallied a shot. The best scoring opportunity may have been for Perlini, who was alone in front of the net, but he lost control of the puck. Nagle also had to be big, though, with his best save coming on Andrew Yogan’s redirection during a power play.

Early in the second overtime, Nagle came up with stops of Yogan and Nick Huard shots from point-blank range, as both teams looked to be running on empty. Thomas tested Thiessen with a backhand shot from 6 feet at 13:24.

Fort Wayne scored on 2 of 7 power plays. Cincinnati was 0 for 5.

Notes: The referees were Jason Faist and Ben Moser. … Cincinnati’s backup goalie was Andy Iles, who was ill for Game 3. He replaced Brandon Whitney, who had come into Game 3 after Fort Wayne took a 4-0 lead. … The Komets’ lineup was unchanged, meaning captain Jamie Schaafsma was still a roving 10th forward.

jcohn@jg.net