There was lot of which the Komets could be proud from their 2-1 overtime victory over the Toledo Walleye on Friday night.

And not just the play of goaltender Mark Guggenberger, who stopped 25 shots.

“It was great to get my feet wet in the first period and get right into the action,” Guggenberger said. “I thought the guys battled really hard in front of me and my job pretty easy.”

Most impressive was the shot blocking from the Komets defenders, on a night 6 of 8 power plays given by referee Peter Tarnaris went in favor of Toledo.

“We probably blocked our most shots tonight. They would have had a lot more chances, but we were all sacrificing ourselves, just like we had a playoff mentality out there,” said defenseman Joey Leach, who had the overtime winner.

(See the goal in the video highlights above this post.)

“I just wanted to get it on the net,” Leach said. “I was pretty gassed at the end of a shift there and just threw it on the spot. I got lucky.”

I wouldn’t say by any stretch that this was a great game for the Komets, but it was a big victory.

The Komets (38-13-6) remained two points back of Florida for the Eastern Conference lead, but they increased their lead over Toledo (37-13-5) to two points in the North Division, though the Walleye has played one fewer game. The teams don’t meet again in the regular season.

Aside from a three-game losing streak in January, the Komets haven’t lost consecutive games in regulation time all season long. That’s the most impressive thing.

The Komets play tonight at Cincinnati, Ohio, in the first game of a home-and-home series.

By the way, the South Carolina Stingrays won their 17th straight game tonight. That ties the ECHL regular-season record set by Cincinnati in 2007-08.

The Stingrays have won 11 straight on the road.

The record for most consecutive ECHL victories including the playoffs is 18, set by Las Vegas in 2007, when they won their last 13 of the regular season and first five of the postseason.

jcohn@jg.net