Two hours before faceoff, second-year Komets forward Rick Varone was sitting in the dressing room trying to keep a positive outlook. After scoring 23 goals last year to win the team's co-Rookie of the Year Award, Varone had been held scoreless in Fort Wayne's first 13 games. Did he feel good going into the game?

“I feel OK,” Varone said.

But did he feel good?

“I felt good the first 13 times; now I'll take OK.”

Instead he was a little lucky, and that turned out pretty good. Varone broke through Thursday night with his first goal of the season as the Komets beat Flint 5-4 before 8,243 Memorial Coliseum fans. Flint goaltender Jean-Francois Labbe made the initial save on Komets defenseman Guy Dupuis, but the puck bounced right to Varone's foot and he was able to kick it to his stick and lift it over Labbe.

“It was a big relief finally being able to contribute offensively,” said Varone, who suffered a minor knee injury in the game and is day-to-day. “I feel like I've played well in other areas of the game, but it's nice to be able to contribute like I'm used to.”

After scoring three or fewer goals in eight straight games, the Komets finally cranked up their offense to score a season-high in goals and blast the International Hockey League's worst team. Brandon Warner also scored his first goal of the season, and P.C. Drouin, Justin Chwedoruk and Sean O'Connor scored while Guy Dupuis and Leo Thomas each had a pair of assists.

So did goaltender Tim Haun, becoming the Komets' first netminder since Aaron MacDonald on Nov. 6, 1999, to get two assists in a game.

“It just shows that my defense is coming back and we're good in transition and we're attacking so guys are scoring,” Haun said.

About the only bad thing was the Komets lost their home penalty-killing streak at 30 straight successful kills. John Ronan scored an opponents' first power-play goal of the season in Fort Wayne at 11:39 of the second period. The Komets led throughout the game, but the Generals kept cutting the margin to one.

“Defensively, we weren't very good tonight, but we'll take the five goals, that's for sure,” Komets coach Al Sims said. “Give them credit, they never quit and kept coming.

“The win is the big thing.”

For the first time since he was injured Nov. 14 against Dayton, Komets forward Konstantin Shafranov was able to eat properly Thursday. The veteran underwent an hourlong out-patient surgery Wednesday to repair a pair of broken bones in the upper-left side of his face.

Shafranov suffered the injury when he was elbowed by Dayton's Greg Labenski. Labenski was suspended five games by the IHL for the hit.

Shafranov is on the 30-day injured reserve list until Dec. 14, but the surgery might help speed his recovery now that he can eat. One of the broken bones in his cheek was pressing into a nerve cluster. He'll have to wear a modified shield when he returns to the lineup.