Walleye lose to Fort Wayne, face 3-2 deficit in second-round series

The Toledo Walleye are in trouble. Absent star defenseman Simon Denis, the Walleye’s offense got stuck in neutral: only Dylan Sadowy scored as the Walleye lost 4-1 to the Fort Wayne Komets on Saturday night, and Toledo trails its second-round series 3 games to 2.

Game 6 will take place Tuesday in Fort Wayne, and as for Saturday night’s action, the Walleye’s website posted a recap and highlight clip:

Komets take Game 5 against Walleye

(Toledo, OH) – Dylan Sadowy scored his third goal of the postseason as the Walleye fell to the Komets 4-1 on Saturday night in Toledo. Pat Nagle stopped 32 of 36 shots and is 6-3-0 in postseason play. The Walleye trail the best-of-seven series three games to two.

Fort Wayne would take a 1-0 lead at 4:18 of the first period on the power play with a shot that beat Nagle. The Komets would add a second goal at 6:31 of the frame. Michael Houser turned aside the nine shots he faced in the period.

At 7:12 of the second period, the Komets found the back of the net to extend their lead to 3-0. Dylan Sadowy (3rd) would poke in a shot from Mike Borkowski at 16:42 of the frame on the power play to cut the Komets lead to 3-1.

Though the Walleye would put pressure on Fort Wayne and Houser, the Komets would take a 4-1 lead at 2:56 of the third period with a shot that deflected off former Walleye, Bobby Shea, and past Nagle.

Head coach, Dan Watson, is looking ahead to Tuesday night’s Game 6. “Let’s see what this team’s made of,” said Watson. “We want to continue this journey we started back in October. We’ve beat them in Fort Wayne once. Let’s get moving, get ready to play, and see where we go on Tuesday night.”

Fish Tales:

  • Game 6 is set for Tuesday night in Fort Wayne with a 7:30 p.m. puck drop. If necessary, Game 7 will be Wednesday night with a 7:35 p.m. puck drop in Toledo.

  • Nagle stopped 32 of 36 shots and is 6-3-0 in postseason play.

  • Shane Berschbach (2G, 3A) leads the Walleye in the Fort Wayne series with five points in five games played.

  • Dylan Sadowy has three goals in two of his past three games.

  • Mike Borkowski has an assist in each of his past three games.

The Toledo Blade’s Mark Monroe is writing up a recap presently:

More to come, as they say.

Update: Here’s more from the Toledo Blade’s Monroe:

Bonis, who is in his fourth season with the Walleye, said there will be no quit for Game 6 at Memorial Coliseum.

“We are a family in there,” Bonis said. “We have 23 brothers strong. To have the opportunity to go in there and compete with our backs against the wall, I like our odds. So I can’t wait to see the effort we have because I know it will be good.”

Watson said he is looking forward now to how his players respond to the do-or-die nature.

“I’m excited to see these guys play with their backs against the wall,” Watson said. “This is a leadership group that has been together for awhile. They’ve played in these types of games. They’ve gone in and [won on the road] and brought it back for Game 7. That’s what we’re looking for. We’re looking for a real good effort and for guys to step up and lay it all on the line.”

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George Malik

My name is George Malik, and I'm the Malik Report's editor/blogger/poster. I have been blogging about the Red Wings since 2006, when MLive hired me to work their SlapShots blog, and I joined Kukla's Korner in 2011 as The Malik Report. I'm starting The Malik Report as a stand-alone site, hoping that having my readers fund the website is indeed the way to go to build a better community and create better content.