Steve Guenette was ready. He's close to being an NHL goalie, and Tuesday Calgary Flames' President Cliff Fletcher was in the Salt Palace crowd.

Guenette waited.No Fort Wayne shots came his way.

Not for the whole first period.

"I don't think I've ever seen that," said Eagle Coach Bob Francis.

"The first period was a first for my career," said Guenette, who saw 28 Komet shots the last 40 minutes.

Guenette and the Golden Eagles ended up treating Fletcher and 3,777 fans to a 6-1 win, their second in two nights, the shutout being broken with 10:12 left by Komet Ron Shudra.

The win moved Salt Lake back into a first-place tie in the IHL West.

For the Komets, "That's the first time that's happened," said Coach Al Sims, whose club was coming off a three-win weekend with shutouts of division leaders Muskegon and Peoria and a 7-4 win over Peoria Sunday.

"I don't think they even came close, not even an icing on net," Guenette said. By late in the period, he was relieved there were no shots because of the inactivity. He had time during intermission to get over the shock and ready for the second period.

Guenette was glad to get work later because Fletcher was watching. "It would be disappointing for him to come down and watch me face 10 shots," he said.

Guenette was slated to return to Calgary (he was there over the weekend) as a possible injury replacement for Mike Vernon, but late Tuesday he was told to stay here. That suited him, as long as he wasn't going to play there, because he wants to be available for Thursday's rematch with Fort Wayne. The Salt Palace is sold out for that, and he assumes the Komets will be far better.

"They had airplane legs the first period," said Guenette, "and didn't create anything."

Sims looked more to the three goals the Eagles scored in the first 17:01 as the disturbing thing. "They came out of the chute fast," he said, adding his club gave up too many rebound goals. "They like to jam the net like Muskegon," he said. His goalies are to stop the first shot, and the defense is to clear the puck, but defensively, "There was a complete breakdown the first period. We've got to be stronger in front of the net," Sims said.

Francis liked it that all three lines scored; in fact, each scored in the first period. Randy Bucyk got the first 3:07 into the game on a drop from Rich Chernomaz, whose scoring streak increased to 11 games after Rick Hayward dug a puck out of the corner.

Marc Bureau, playing with Tim Sweeney and Stephane Matteau, rebounded a shot by defenseman Rick Lessard at 16:41 for the first of his two goals. And Jeff Wenaas, centering for Mark Holmes and Stu Grimson, used their assists to score at 17:01.

Wenaas, defenseman Chris Biotti and Hayward all got their first goals of the season, making it 5-0 by 14:34 of the second, and Bureau added his sixth of the season by 4:06 of the third, Matteau getting his third assist of the night.

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Those line combinations are new this week. "Maybe a little change Bobby made, the guys are working harder," said Bureau. "They want to stay in the game and don't want to go back where they were before when we lost four."

Matteau, good enough to satisfy himself Monday and Tuesday, said, "Switching lines was a plus." He wants to jump on the opportunity. He knew Bureau from juniors, though Bureau's older. "He talks to me and has helped me a lot off the ice," Matteau said.

Bureau said, with both of them being French, he helps Matteau feel more comfortable through communication. "I know I'm not easy to play with," said Bureau, "but I'm going to let him know; every time we're not doing good we talk. It's not just him. I kick myself, too.

"Steph has confidence in me because I'm two years here, and he listens to me a lot," Bureau said.

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