Glads Blanked by Komets

Wrapping up their week-long road trip with a game on Monday night in Fort Wayne, the Gladiators were unable to solve Komets goaltender Pat Nagle and fell 4-0. The team has time to recoup, however, as the holiday break has begun and will allow the team four days off before returning to battle on Saturday in Duluth.Fort Wayne opened the scoring 4:28 into the game, as Gabriel Beaupre flung a shot from the top of the left hand circle that snuck past a screened Matt Ginn to put the home side up 1-0. After the Komets worked the puck deep into the offensive zone, winger Alex Belzile fed Beaupre sneaking in from the left point and the blueliner buried it for his first of the season. Belzile and Garrett Meurs collected the assists on the play, the fifth consecutive game that Belzile has registered a helper.The Komets doubled their advantage with just 2:59 left on the clock, as Meurs picked up his fourth goal of the season. Winger Mike Embach carried the puck from the corner up to the top of the right circle and fired a low shot towards the net, where Meurs redirected it past Ginn for the goal. The helper for Embach marked his team leading 20th point of the season, while Belzile collected the secondary assist for his third multi-point game of the season.After the Gladiators nearly cut the deficit in half at one end with a deflection off the post, Fort Wayne took the puck the other way and made it 3-0 on a goal from forward Joe Perry with just 6:12 left on the clock. Ginn made the initial save off of a shot from Nikita Kashirsky but Perry collected the rebound in the low slot and put it past Ginn for the goal, his fifth of the season.Things went from bad to worse for the Gladiators less than a minute later as the Komets added their fourth of the evening with a power-play goal, again from Perry. With Garry Nunn serving a bench minor, the Komets worked the puck in the offensive zone and Perry one-timed home a Garrett Thompson feed for his second of the night. The tally for Perry marked his second two-goal game of the season, matching his performance on October 23, when he tallied twice as a member of the Alaska Aces.Atlanta falls to 16-10-1 on the season with the loss, placing them in a tie for sixth in the Eastern Conference with 33 points. Meanwhile, Kalamazoo improves to 12-10-1 on the season, jumping them into a tie for seventh in the Western Conference.