Floyd Sparks Gulls as Streak Reaches 12

FT. WAYNE, Ind. —  Back when the Gulls were as ugly as a Rust Belt town during winter, Larry Floyd was their star and recorded a hat trick. That was two seasons ago.

Time for an update.

Floyd scored three times, twice while the Gulls were short-handed, to lead them to a 5-2 victory over the Ft. Wayne Komets in front of 8,103 at the Allen County Memorial Coliseum here.

NHL veterans John Anderson and Hubie McDonough also scored for the Gulls (20-0-1, 41 points). They have won 12 consecutive games and are six games short of the record of 18 games, set two seasons ago by the Peoria Rivermen.

That was roughly about the time the Gulls, lacking players with a lot of NHL experience, took the second half of the season off, finishing last in the West Division with a 30-45-8 record.

The Gulls are not lacking in NHL veterans or motivation this season.

“We treated this like it was a big game,” Coach Rick Dudley said. “There was a big headline here that said (the Komets) would be the first team to knock us off. So the media helped us.”

Not to mention Floyd, who started the scoring at 10:58 of the first period, beating Komet goaltender Pokey Reddick for his eighth goal this season. After the Komets’ Paul Willett tied the game at 13:32 of the first period, McDonough scored at 14:33, giving the Gulls a 2-1 lead after one period.

Ft. Wayne’s Collin Chin made it 2-2, with a goal at 6:18 of the second period but Anderson’s goal at 8:29 proved to be the clincher.

Floyd, voted most valuable player of the 1990-91 squad, added goals at 4:09 and 19:57 of the final period to seal the victory for Clint Malarchuk, 7-0-1, who made 25 saves. The Komets fell to 9-9-2.