The Komets got more than 10 odd-man rushes and scored plenty of goals in defeating the Quad City Mallards 5-1 tonight at Memorial Coliseum.

It was the Komets’ first game at the Coliseum since beating the Indy Fuel 4-0 on Nov. 4, after which they went 2-1-2 on a road trip that took them to four cities.

Fort Wayne (8-3-2) improved to 3-0-0 against the divisional-rival Mallards (7-4-1) this season.

The Komets had eight of the first nine shots on goal, through the first 6:40, but Fort Wayne goaltender Eric Hartzell had to come up with the best stop of that time frame by gloving a blast from Grant Arnold, who was all alone to set up in front of the net.

Quad City netminder Adam Vay came up big at 12:55 by stopping Mason Baptista, who had benefited from a Mike Embach steal of the puck in the corner to get a shot from 8 feet, and again at 14:23 when Trevor Cheek had a breakaway.

Garrett Thompson set up the game’s first goal with 14 seconds left in the first period. He snuck past the defense and a hook from behind, not called by referee Jonathan Sitarski, stopped him from taking a shot. But Thompson quickly spun to send a pass to Shawn Szydlowski, who scored from 10 feet and extended his point-scoring streak to eight games. Szydlowski leads the Komets in goals (seven) and points (16).

The Komets continued their barrage of shots – they had the 29-15 edge after Thompson’s shot at the end of an odd-man rush was deflected away by Vay at 13:29 of the second period – but only a one-goal lead remained.

Yet another odd-man rush paid off with a Cheek goal, at 16:31, after defenseman Cody Sol sent him a crossing pass. Cheek has four goals and 10 points in seven games since returning from Tucson of the higher-level American Hockey League. Sol has one goal and 10 points in 13 games, after totaling only nine goals and 39 points in 137 games during his first two seasons with Fort Wayne.

The Mallards’ Michael Parks netted a shot from the right circle 18 seconds into the third period. It didn’t take long for Fort Wayne to answer; Kyle Thomas scored off the rebound of a Curtis Leonard shot at 4:03 and Jason Binkley made it 4-1 at 7:20.

After Hartzell stopped Jack Nevins on a breakaway, Fort Wayne’s Dan Milan fought Nolan LaPorte. Cheek added a short-handed breakaway goal in the final minute, as Fort Wayne outshot the Mallards 39-32.

Notes: Defenseman Bobby Shea completed his three-game suspension for actions in an 11-player melee at Missouri on Nov. 11. … The Komets are 4-1-0 at the Coliseum. Quad City is 4-3-0 on the road. … The Komets played without defenseman Gabriel Beaupre and goaltender Pat Nagle (high ankle sprain). ... Fort Wayne’s Dan Cohen was one of the linemen. … Quad City’s captain, Chris Francis, had four goals and 17 points in 32 games for Fort Wayne in 2010-11. Jace Coyle is also a former Komet.

jcohn@jg.net