CINCINNATI —After falling behind 3-0, Cincinnati rallied with three third period goals to send the game to overtime, and Louie Caporusso's one-timer gave the Cyclones a thrilling 4-3 win over the Fort Wayne Komets in Game 1 of the Kelly Cup Playoffs.
Andrew Nielsen tallied three assists in his debut with the Cyclones. Zack Andrusiak added three points with his two goal, one assist effort.
The Cyclones fell behind early as Oliver Cooper found the back of the net less than three minutes into the game, to give the Komets a 1-0 lead.
Tye Felhaber added two late first period goals to extend the Komets lead. He beat Mark Sinclair for his first goal after stealing the puck in the Cyclones zone. Felhaber then added another in the final minute to give Fort Wayne a commanding 3-0 lead going into the first intermission.
Sinclair was pulled and replaced by Beck Warm, who finished the night with 24 saves.
Fort Wayne's goaltender Rylan Parenteau played like brick wall, holding Cincinnati scoreless for two periods.
But the Cyclones were finally able to find the cracks in the wall in the third period, as Cincinnati took advantage of a 5-on-3 power play to get their first goal of the game.
Andrusiak would put a shot between the legs of Parenteau to cut the Komets lead to 3-1 just over three minutes into the final period.
Andrusiak would notch his second goal just three minutes later when Jalen Smereck sprung him for a breakaway, and Andrusiak went top shelf to make it 3-2. The Cyclones would tie the game up at 3 on a power play goal by Matt Berry at the 13:07 mark of the final period.
Warm would set the scoring play in motion, lobbing the puck ahead to Berry, who then skated past the Fort Wayne blue line and let a shot fly from the high slot that zinged by Parenteau for the tying goal.
Fort Wayne had a golden opportunity to take the lead with under four minutes remaining, as the went on the power play after Matt Cairns had been sent to the box.
Darien Kielb broke through Cincinnati's defense for a one-on-one with Warm, but the Cyclones net minder turned aside the scoring chance to force overtime.
At the 2:42 mark of the overtime frame, Caporusso won a face off in front of the For Wayne net, and the puck was passed around the zone until it came back to him in the high slot. Caporusso fired a shot towards the net that beat Parenteau low for the game-winner.
Cincinnati leads the series 1-0 and will be back on the ice for Game 2 on Saturday night at Heritage Bank Center.
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