The Komets fell for the first time this season, losing 3-2 night to the Kansas City Mavericks, a team that looked vastly improved over Friday.

It took great goaltending for the Mavericks to win, though, as they were outshot 45-23.

After crushing the Mavericks 8-2 on Friday night at the Coliseum, led by two Garrett Thompson goals, the Komets expected more of a battle tonight and they got it in front of 7,696 fans.

Though Fort Wayne’s Ralph Cuddemi opened the scoring 2:19 into the game, spinning and shooting from the right circle, Kansas City’s Bryce Aneloski answered 1:38 later. And Kansas City’s Mike McMurtry, who had set up that goal, made it 2-1 by finishing off a 2-on-1 rush at 6:18.

It would have been worse had Fort Wayne center Justin Hodgman not thwarted a Matt Robertson shot at 16:10, when goaltender Garrett Bartus was caught out of position, and the sequence came after Kansas City goalie Tyler Parsons withstood a 2-on-1 rush that saw Tyson Fawcett’s cross-ice pass set up Jamie Schaafsma for a shot.

The second period was marked by remarkable goaltending with Parsons foiling Cuddemi and Ryan Culkin from point-blank range during a power-play and stopping Fawcett on a spinning, breakaway shot. Meanwhile, Bartus faced an odd-man rush and stopped shots by Dan Correale and Darren Nowick only to be defenseless for Patch Alber to chip a shot in from just off the left post for a 3-1 lead.

As happened in their previous two games, a fight was needed to help energize the Komets. This time, it was Shawn Szydlowski fighting Justin Breton late in the second period.

It worked.

Marc-Olivier Roy scored by getting to the rebound of a Culkin shot, snatching it out of the crease, switching to his backhand and shooting 1:34 into the third period.

But the comeback ended there.

The Komets are off until this Friday’s 8 p.m. game at Memorial Coliseum against the Cincinnati Cyclones, in which Fort Wayne goalie Michael Houser could face his former team.

Notes: Former Komets captain Lincoln Kaleigh Schrock, a Fort Wayne native, joined the roster of the short-handed Brampton Beast before its game at Kalamazoo, Michigan. Schrock, 33, who retired in 2015, is the head of athlete development at the SportOne/Parkview Icehouse and head of player and coaching development for the Fort Wayne Amateur Hockey Association. Brampton is coached by Colin Chaulk, Schrock’s former teammate with the Komets. … Former Komets goalie Kevin St. Pierre was the Mavericks’ emergency backup goalie for a second straight night. … The referee was Lucas Martin.

jcohn@jg.net