It was almost fitting. After the Komets’ penalty kill was excellent in stopping a whopping nine Cincinnati Cyclones power plays during regulation time, Fort Wayne’s power play came through with a Garrett Thompson overtime goal for a 2-1 victory in Game 6 of the Western Conference quarterfinals before 4,616 fans at the Coliseum.

The Komets forced a Game 7, which will be at Memorial Coliseum on Wednesday.

Cincinnati could have won the game had its power play been better. Both of Fort Wayne’s goals came with the man-advantage. The winner came during a 5-on-3 advantage.

Thompson’s goal came on a one-timer in front, seconds after he had been stopped from the same spot.

It was the third straight game that went to overtime, after Fort Wayne won 3-2 on Friday at Cincinnati on an Alex Belzile goal and lost there Saturday on a Jonathan Diaby goal. Both of those games went to double overtime.

That had been the first time in the Komets’ 64-year history that back-to-back games went to double overtime.

The Komets lost the first two games of the series at home by the same 3-2 score.

Sparked by a crushing Jordon Southorn check of Colin Mulvey, the Komets dominated the early play and had all eight shots on goal of the first 8:19.

But the energy resulted in four straight penalties called on Fort Wayne by referees Peter Tarnaris and Kenny Anderson. Fort Wayne gave up only one shot on the ensuing power plays, which included two 5-on-3 advantages, and defenseman Gabriel Beaupre had two particularly big shot blocks for the Komets.

Cincinnati goalie Brad Thiessen was tested late in the period, stopping Thompson and Mike Embach on shots from point-blank range to keep it scoreless at the first intermission, though Fort Wayne had 14 of the period’s 18 shots.

On their 17th shot of the game, the Komets finally got through Thiessen, a former NHL goalie with the Pittsburgh Penguins. And it took an NHL-caliber shot from Belzile, who rifled a 45-foot shot into the top of the net 1:02 into the second period, while Cincinnati was short-handed because of a Cody Carlson penalty for tripping Shawn Szydlowski.

Fort Wayne goalie Pat Nagle preserved the lead with a kick save of a Branden Gracel shot – Cincinnati’s fourth shot of the game – at the end of a 2-on-1 rush at 4:09. Nagle came up big again with a stop of Tommy Mele at the end of a 2-on-1 at 12:33.

With the teams skating 4-on-4, Nagle again came up big with a stop of a Mele shot from 8 feet, maintaining Fort Wayne’s 1-0 lead. Fort Wayne’s Thompson missed a chance to extend the lead when he was stopped on a breakaway, just after he came out of the penalty box, at 7:30.

The Cyclones finally solved Nagle at 9:55 of the third period, when a Brett Wysopal shot from the blue line caromed off bodies in front of the net and came to Andrew Yogan, who backhanded the puck inside the left goalpost from 9 feet.

With 1:04 left, the Cyclones got penalized for having too many men on the ice. Fort Wayne’s Troy Bourke and Szydlowski had chances to score from within 10 feet with less than 10 seconds left, but Thiessen made the saves and a 10-player post-whistle scrum broke out.

In regulation, Fort Wayne scored on 1 of 7 power plays and Cincinnati was 0 for 9. In the series, Fort Wayne is 8 of 35 and Cincinnati is 1 of 33.

Nagle had 23 saves in regulation. Thiessen had 32.

Szydlowski had a rocketing 30-foot shot stopped by Thiessen just as the power play ended in overtime. And Brett Perlini had a similar chance at 3:00, just before Bourke was stopped from point-blank range.

After the Cyclones got penalized for delay of game – they fired the puck out of play – and Diaby hooked Kyle Thomas in the face, the Komets got a 5-on-3 power play at 4:56.

Notes: Fort Wayne forward Garrett Meurs, who had one assist in the first two games and sat out all three in Cincinnati, was back in the lineup instead of forward Paul Crowder, who had an upper-body injury that general manager David Franke said “is nothing major.” … The ECHL’s vice-president of hockey operations, Joe Ernst, attended the game. … Cincinnati’s Garrett Noonan was back in the lineup after serving the two-game suspension Ernst gave him for a high stick of Bourke. He replaced defenseman Steve Weinstein, who had a goal in two games.

jcohn@jg.net