Bison’s Special Teams Take Over in 5–2 Win Against Fort Wayne
Written by Noah Simon on January 20, 2026
IMAGE COURTESY OF BLOOMINGTON BISON MEDIA TEAM
NORMAL, Ill. – Bloomington’s power-play success secures a 5-2 victory for the Bison over the Fort Wayne Komets at the Memorial Coliseum in Indiana on Friday evening.
While the Bison started the game off slow, giving the first 5 shots to the opposition and forcing their netminder Drayden McKay to make numerous saves, the first power play opportunity of the opening period dismantled the Komets’ momentum.
Ayden MacDonald’s near miss on a tip-play marked the best chance of opening the one-man advantage, but soon after the contest returned to 5-on-5 action, the Bison were assessed a high-sticking penalty, giving the man advantage to the Komets.
The Komets prove more effective on the early power-play opportunities, finding the back of McKay’s net a mere 7 seconds into the power play on a set play to break the scoreless tie with just over 14 minutes remaining in the opening period.
While the Bison bounced back with yet another power play opportunity of their own, Fort Wayne successfully fended off Sullivan Mack’s attempt and sustained pressure from the Bloomington power-play unit to remain in the lead.
Drayden McKay came up with a number of great saves with about 7 minutes left in the opening frame to keep the Bison within striking distance.
Another ensuing power play for the Bison after successfully fending off the Komets’ surge with just under three minutes to go in the opening period gave the Bison the lead in the shot department, 13 to 9, but the score remained in favor of the Komets at the end of the period.
After the intermission, Bloomington’s late first-quarter pressure carried over into the middle frame, and with less than a minute played to start the second period, Lou-Felix Denis tied the game after winning a faceoff in his own zone and completing the give-and-go with Mikhail Abramov, set up by Mikael Robidoux.
With the contest tied again, Bloomington continued to apply the pressure, leading to another power play two minutes later, during which Sullivan Mack gave the Bison their first lead of the game, from Nikita Sedov and Denis.
The hot power play surge struck again a mere 90 seconds later, as the Bison’s Mark Kaleinikovas fired in his third power play goal against the Komets this season and extended the Bison lead to 3-1 just before the halfway mark of the period.
As if it weren’t enough, things got even worse for Fort Wayne as Sullivan Mack potted his second power play goal of the game from Kaleinikovas and Shane Ott halfway through the period to give the Bison a 4-1 advantage after scoring 4 unanswered goals in the middle frame.
In desperate need of a response, a double minor penalty assessed to the Bison gave the Komets a chance to cut into Bloomington’s lead, but McKay continued his stellar performance with a number of saves to keep the Komets at bay.
After one of the Bison’s penalties had expired, a Komets infraction led to four-on-four play with four minutes remaining in the period, during which Fort Wayne was able to cut the deficit to 2, making it a 4-2 lead for the Bison heading into the final period of play.
Bloomington effectively fended off the Komets in the last period, while being outshot 12-4 in the final frame.
McKay turned away all 14 shots faced in the period, and heroic saves from Brenden Datema and Nikita Sedov prevented Fort Wayne from making it a close contest down the stretch.
The final goal for the Bison came with 2 minutes remaining in the game on an empty net score from Karpa, as Bloomington scored 5 goals for the second straight game and extended their winning streak to 3 consecutive games.
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