Nick Boucher made 30 saves as the Komets defeated Quad City 3-2 Friday in Moline, Ill.

Artem Podshendyalov had one goal and two assists, and Chris Auger had one goal and one assist for Fort Wayne (26-13-2), which pulled into a first-place tie with Evansville in the Turner Conference. Evansville lost to Rapid City 5-2.

Podshendyalov scored the game’s first goal, at 15:48 of the first period. He assisted on Brett Smith’s goal at 13:18 of the second period as the Komets took a 2-1 lead. Auger scored at 19:59 of the second period to stretch the lead to 3-1. Former Komet Justin Chwedoruk assisted on Quad City’s (23-18-1) final goal.

The Komets return to Memorial Coliseum today facing Dayton.

Notes: Radio broadcaster Bob Chase, who is in his 59th season, was feeling ill and didn’t make the trip to Moline, Ill. So there was no WOWO broadcast. … In response to a report on the Journal Gazette’s website Thursday that the Mallards had been suffering through payroll problems and were in some danger of folding, CHL director or operations Bob Hoffman said: “No, the Mallards are not folding, and the league and the Mallards organization have worked through any issues that presented themselves over the course of the last week.”