Fort Wayne, Ind. – Nikita Sedov extended his point streak to six games and the Bloomington Bison fired 20 shots on net in the third period but fell 3-2 in a spirited game against the Fort Wayne Komets at the Memorial Coliseum on Saturday evening. 

For a second-straight night against the Komets, Bloomington allowed five of the first six shots of the game, and while on a delayed penalty, Hugo Ollas stopped a breakaway chance to keep things scoreless early. Less than a minute into the penalty kill, the Bison netminder made an aggressive save and kept the puck moving to send Zak Karpa on a breakaway. With Fort Wayne’s netminder out of position after making the initial stop, Bloomington was then denied a shot into a nearly empty net by a defenseman’s stick. On the following sequence, Fort Wayne rifled in a top-shelf goal from the left faceoff dot to take a 1-0 lead at 7:07 as the penalty expired. Karpa, who secured Bloomington’s victory with an empty-net goal on Friday, continued to create chances and a wraparound attempt led to a slot-shot by Chongmin Lee that was turned aside near the halfway mark. Ollas was tested again and remained composed, but 17 seconds after the Komets drew another powerplay they snuck in the 2-0 goal at 14:49. Fifteen seconds after falling behind by a pair of goals the Bison earned their first powerplay of the game. It led to momentum for the visitors but they would not find success on the man-advantage until later. Mikael Robidoux and Sedov orchestrated a give-and-go play with two minutes left in the period but were denied, and with 62 seconds left, Bloomington drew another penalty. The Bison peppered Fort Wayne’s net and had multiple Grade-A opportunities but were held off the scoreboard.

Fifty-eight seconds of the previous call carried over into the middle frame and less than four minutes after it expired the Bison earned another powerplay. Four-on-four hockey followed thanks to further undisciplined play by both squads, and when full strength finally resumed, Fort Wayne increased its lead again. The Komets redirected a shot from the boards to jump ahead 3-0 with over eight minutes left in the period. The Bison were set up for their fourth powerplay of the evening 26 seconds later and Ayden MacDonald nearly got his team on the board with a backhand stuff at the conclusion of the penalty. Before Fort Wayne got possession, they were assessed a tripping minor to give the Bison another five-on-four. With exactly five minutes on the clock, Sedov sailed in a slap shot from Lee and Sullivan Mack to give Bloomington life. Less than two minutes later, Mikhail Abramov scored his first ECHL goal to bring the Bison within one goal of tying the game after Lou-Felix Denis and Robidoux stampeded up the ice. Through 40 minutes of play Bloomington remained down 3-2, but was set to dominate chances in the third period.

The Bison mounted pressure from the drop of the puck and spent most of the final frame in Fort Wayne’s defensive zone. The first chance against came nearly nine minutes in when Ollas was tasked with another breakaway save. Minutes prior, Denis had a backhand shot stopped point-blank. Bloomington’s netminder continued to move the puck when he had opportunities to, and set up rushes into the offensive zone. With just over five minutes left, Mack slammed an attempt wide of the net and MacDonald was stonewalled to bring up a whistle. The Komets were called for another penalty on the sequence, and Shane Ott pinged the goal post about a minute later. The Bison onslaught carried through to the final horn and three more chances were turned aside as time expired. Despite having an extra attacker out for the dying 87 seconds of the game and outshooting Fort Wayne 20-6 in the third, Bloomington was tabbed with the loss.

Join the Bison on Bluey Night on Sunday, January 18 when Bluey will be on the concourse for meet and greets with fans, kids receive a free meal coupon and fans can skate with Bison players after the game!

Single-game tickets are available for ALL Bloomington Bison home games starting as low as $20! Visit ticketmaster.com or call 309-965-HERD to purchase tickets today.