Al Sims, 60, who guided the Komets to five championships between 1993 and 2012 with a stint coaching the NHL’s San Jose Sharks in between, retired Monday as the winningest coach in the francise’s 61-season history.
The Komets had hoped they would – finally – have a full 18-player lineup Saturday night.
That wasn’t to be the case.
Heading into a pivotal game at Evansville, the Komets were forced to play without center Brett Smith because of a shoulder injury. The Komets were already without captain Colin Chaulk (concussion symptoms), defenseman Dustin Molle (groin), forward Jesse Bennefield (leg) and goalie Alex Kangas (hip).
To make matters worse, forward Artem Podshendyalov was hampered by a leg injury, though he was still able to get in the lineup Saturday night, and defenseman David Starenky’s hand was injured from his two fights in Friday’s 5-4 victory over Arizona in an overtime shootout.
Starenky was able to go, but had to play forward.
So, the Komets were two men short of a full lineup. That made it almost all of six straight games in which the Komets played short-handed, dating back to the brawl in which two players were ejected early in a Feb. 17 game against Bloomington.
Evansville (34-13-4) entered the game three points up on Fort Wayne (33-16-3) for first place in the Turner Conference.
