Forward Kyle Thomas had the first hat trick of his three-season professional career, plus an assist, but it wasn’t enough as the Komets lost 8-6 to the Rapid City Rush in a wild game in South Dakota.

The Komets are 0-2-0 so far on their eight-game road trip. They’ve lost five of their last seven games.

Thomas now has 13 goals and 31 points in 44 games. He had the first three-goal game by a Fort Wayne player since Joe Perry on Jan. 8. Shawn Szydlowski also has a hat trick this season.

Rapid City scored five goals on its first 11 shots. In his first game with Rapid City, Josh MacDonald had a hat trick, too, and he and teammate Lindsay Sparks both had franchise-record six-point nights.

Fort Wayne (31-19-5) and Rapid City (23-28-5) meet again tonight.

It was the first Komets game in South Dakota since 2012, when Fort Wayne was on its way to the Central Hockey League title.

Daniel Barczuk scored on Rapid City’s first shot of the game, 6:19 into the first period, but Fort Wayne captain Jamie Schaafsma answered at 11:43. Schaafsma has scored a goal in three straight games and eight of the last 11, giving him a total of 14 goals and 23 points in 53 games.

After goals by Sparks and Mikhail Stefanovich, Fort Wayne’s Trevor Cheek netted a power-play goal with a shot from the left circle at 4:08 of the second period. Thomas tied it 3 with a breakaway goal at 6:50.

After another Sparks goal, Fort Wayne’s Leo Thomas poked a rebound into the net at 10:28 to tie it at 4 at Rushmore Plaza Civic Center.

The Komets coughed up the puck in their own zone, allowing MacDonald to score from 15 feet out, and MacDonald made it 6-4 with a shot from the left circle at 6:15 of the third period.

Komets goaltender Pat Nagle, who stopped 9 of 15 shots, was then replaced by Spencer Martin. Kyle Thomas scored off a rebound and then by splitting the defense, tying it at 6 at 14:37, but an odd-man rush resulted in a Ryan Walters game-winning goal and MacDonald had an empty netter.

There was a brawl at the end of the game, setting things up for an intense game tonight.

jcohn@jg.net