Game #36

Utica Comets at Hartford Wolf Pack

Saturday, January 4th, 2020

7:00 pm Eastern/4:00 pm Pacific

The 20-11-2-2 Utica Comets will roll into Hartford to take on the 20-8-2-5 Wolf Pack, (New York Rangers affiliate) for game number 36 of the season today at 7:00 pm Eastern/4:00 pm Pacific. The Comets are coming off of a 3-2 loss to Springfield, while Hartford last played to a 3-1 win over Providence.

The Comets have been better on the road than at home, showing a record of 11-4-0-1 away from TheBank, while Hartford shows a record of 14-1-0-2 at home. This game could be a challenging one for the Comets with the way the Pack has played at home this season.

The teams have similar records over their previous 10 contests as the Comets show a record of 6-3-1-0, while the Pack has gone 6-4-0-0 over that same span of games.

Both clubs have also outscored their competition this year, although the Comets have scored more goals than Hartford, they have also allowed more. Utica currently has a goal differential of plus-19, while the Pack is plus-7 on the season.

The Comets come into the game with the better power play between the two clubs, but Hartford has the better penalty kill, so the special teams battle could be a big one today. Utica has gone 34/143 on the power play, giving them a success rate of 23.8% with the extra man. Their penalty kill has allowed 26 goals while down a man 150 times for a success rate of 82.7%.

The Wolf Pack, for their part, have gone 20/136 on the power play to give them a success rate of 14.7% while up a man. Their penalty kill has allowed 19 goals while down a man 115 times to give them a success rate of 83.5% on the kill.

Vinni Lettieri paces the Wolf Pack attack with 12 goals and 14 assists, giving him 26 points in 35 games, while Steven Fogarty sits second with nine goals and 14 helpers to give himself 25 points in 32 games. Joey Keane rounds out their top three with his six goals and 15 assists, giving him 21 points in 34 games this year.

Keane’s 21 points also lead the Hartford rookie crew, while Brogan Rafferty wears the rookie crown in Utica with five goals and 25 assists, giving him 30 points in 35 games this season.

Reid Boucher is still the Comets scoring leader with 20 goals and 20 assists, giving him 40 points in 30 games, while Sven Baertschi sits second with eight goals and 23 assists to give himself 31 points in 23 games. Rafferty’s 30 points have him sitting third for the team.

This will be the first game of the four-game series between the two clubs this season. Three of those games will come this month, so these two clubs will get pretty familiar with each other in short order.

Seamus Malone left yesterday’s game with an injury and isn’t expected to be available today. The Comets are already without Frankie Perron, who is actually a winger who has been forced into the middle for the bulk of the season, so they are dangerously thin down the middle right now.

I would expect to see a call-up from Kalamazoo, or a player signed to a PTO, (professional tryout offer) before game-time today… unless the team wants to move someone else from the wing to the middle.

The team has been sitting veteran pivot Carter Camper for the last few games due to the veteran rule, so we could see him slide back into the lineup at the expense of one of the other vet/vet exempt players who are on the wing. Those would be Boucher, Baertschi, Bailey, Bancks, and Goldobin.

If only the organization could find a pivot or two that they could acquire for one or more of their many wingers…

The two clubs will get after it today in Hartford at 7:00 pm Eastern/4:00 pm Pacific. As always, stay tuned for your CanucksArmy post-game report following today’s action.