Playing their third game in as many nights, it took the Komets some times to get their legs under them. After playing an unenthusiastic first period at Memorial Coliseum, they exploded for all four goals of the second period on their way to a 7-1 victory over the Orlando Solar Bears in front of 5,722 fans.

Orlando’s schedule was even more grueling – it is in the midst of a 10-game road trip and played its fourth game over five days in three cities – but the Solar Bears (16-8-3) had come in on a 4-0-1 run.

The Komets got three goals and two assists from Mike Cazzola, who is now third among ECHL rookies in goals with 11 and second in points with 27. Jamie Schaafsma had four assists and Shawn Szydlowski had one goal and two assists for Fort Wayne (15-7-3), which is on a 6-2-1 run.

The Solar Bears opened the scoring 4:32 into the first period, when Tony Cameranesi fought his way to the rebound of a Denver Manderson shot and chipped it through the arm of goalie Garrett Bartus.

Bartus, the MVP of the lower-level Southern Professional Hockey League last season, atoned at 6:30 by foiling a shot from Austin Block, who had stolen the puck in the Fort Wayne zone and tried to beat the 6-foot-2 netminder low.

Orlando’s goalie, Ryan Massa, flummoxed the Komets’ offense with a series of good saves, including one 6:40 into the second period by Curtis Leonard, who had sent the puck from 40 feet out and through a crowd of players.

Cazzola tied it, though, at 9:27 by repeatedly whacking at the rebound of a Brady Vail shot and putting it underneath Massa and forward Joe Perry, who was inside of the net trying to prevent such a thing.

Just 55 seconds later, Gabriel Desjardins put the Komets up 2-1 with a 25-foot slap shot that was set up by Szydlowski’s pass from behind the net. With 36 points, Szydlowski took sole possession of third place in the race for the ECHL’s scoring title – six points behind Allen’s Chad Costello and three back of Alaska’s Peter Sivak – and Szydlowski has six goals and 19 points in the last nine games.

Cazzola finished off a 2-on-1 rush by scoring for a 3-1 lead at 16:09, faking defenseman Taylor Doherty to the ice and then snapping the puck high on Massa, who had faced only 14 shots to that point. Just off the bench, Bobby Shea fired a low shot into the net from 45 feet out for a 4-1 lead.

There had already been a 10-player scrum in the second period – starting with an exchange of slashes by Schaafsma and Orlando’s Nikolas Brouillard – and an open-ice Shea hit 54 seconds into the third incited a brawl that saw Shea pummel Perry and then exchange punches with Doherty on the way to the penalty box.

Referee Andy Howard doled out 62 penalty minutes, including misconducts for Shea, Perry and Doherty, but the Komets wound up with a power play and Cazzola took advantage to cement Fort Wayne’s first hat trick of the season and a 5-1 lead.

Since joining the ECHL in 2012, the Komets are 8-2-0 against the Solar Bears, who have two players, Perry and Brock Montgomery, that played last season for Fort Wayne. Another former Komets player, Eric Faille, was called from Orlando to Toronto of the American Hockey League before the game.

As attention was on the play in the corner, where Trevor Ludwig had driven Cody Sol into the boards with a low hit, the Komet went up 6-1 on a goal by Kyle Thomas after a pass from Cazzola while spinning in the right circle.

jcohn@jg.net