The Rapid City Rush came into this weekend having not played the Komets since 2012. After losing back-to-back games, including a 3-1 game tonight, they’re probably hoping it’s another four years before they play again.

Or, at least, awhile until they face goaltender Pat Nagle. He stopped 27 of 28 shots, a night after he had 21 in a 1-0 shutout at the Coliseum.

"I tip my hat to Rapid City. I thought they really battled," Komets coach Gary Graham said. "Nags, he bailed us out again at times."

It was Nagle's 13th straight game in net for the Komets, who have gone 11-1-1 along the way.

Prior to the game, the Komets held a ceremony to honor the upcoming 90th birthday of Bob Chase, who is in his 63rd consecutive season as their radio broadcaster on 1190 AM. On hand for the festivities was NBC’s top hockey broadcaster, Mike Emrick, a native of Lafontaine, who was mentored by Chase.

(See video and pictures above.)

Asked what Chase has meant to him, Emrick said: “The same thing he’s meant to the people of Fort Wayne. He’s a wonderful human being, who’s very good to people. He was to me as a college kid just trying to break in, sitting down in the corner section there by myself on Wednesday nights when I didn’t bother anybody broadcasting a game into a tape recorder by myself. He was very patient with me because I was very anxious and excited about what I thought would be a career ahead. He kept me calm and that was not easy to do. So I’m forever beholden to him.”

Before they sang “Happy Birthday,” Chase, whose birthday is actually this Friday, told the fans, “Without you, I wouldn’t be here.”

Chase and Emrick, who called the third period together on 1190 AM, will be featured in NBC’s Hockey Day in America coverage Feb. 21.

The Komets rode the momentum of the pre-game ceremony to an early lead, when Nikita Kashirsky forced a turnover, Cody Sol took a 40-foot shot that was batted down in front and Joe Perry swept the puck in at 5:10.

Garrett Thompson kept it going with a rocketing shot from the left circle at 10:45 that beat goalie Danny Battochio, who had stopped 34 of 35 shots the night before but not the one shot by Brett Perlini late in the third period at the Coliseum.

With an assist on the Thompson goal, Brett Perlini extended his point-scoring streak to 11 games, the second longest active run behind the 14 games of Missouri’s Jesse Root. Amidst Perlini’s streak, he missed seven games with an undisclosed injury.

The Komets and Rush hadn’t met since the 2012 playoffs when Fort Wayne won a six-game series en route to the Central Hockey League championship, and it took Rapid City more than four periods to solve Nagle – Mikhail Stefanovich netted a wrist shot from the left circle, cutting the Fort Wayne lead to 2-1, 1:33 into the second period.

Kyle Thomas put Fort Wayne up 3-1 by skating into the offensive zone and putting a wicked backhand past Battochio 15:08 into the third period.