CanucksArmy Utca Comets Post-Game: Comets Can’t Halt Losing Skid As They Fall 5-3 To Hartford

Game #65

Vs Hartford Wolf Pack

Saturday, March 16th, 2019

7:00 pm Eastern/4:00 pm Pacific

(in no particular order)

34 Carter Bancks (C) – 11 Cam Darcy – 37 Dyson Stevenson

9 Lukas Jasek – 10 Tanner Kero (A) – 15 Zack MacEwen

16 Brendan Gaunce – 21 Brendan Woods – 13 Kole Lind

18 Vincent Arseneau – 14 Reid Gardiner – 28 Kyle Thomas

7 Brandon Anselmini – 26 Jaime Sifers (A)

38 Matt Petgrave – 5 Jalen Chatfield

3 Stefan LeBlanc – 64 Jesse Graham

33 Marek Mazanec

49 Michael Leighton (backing up)

The opening frame of this one was pretty solid. We saw some good pace, a solid tilt, and a goal from each team.

The Comets had an early scoring chance as Jaime Sifers ripped a point shot that snuck through traffic, only to be denied by netminder Adam Huska, as was the Dyson Stevenson chance that followed.

Kole Lind came up with a nice takeaway…stop me if you’ve heard that one before, and set up Brendan Gaunce for a shot that was denied, but Lind also took a tripping penalty on the play.

With Lind in the box, the Comets somewhat improved penalty kill went to work. Marek Mazanec was facing his former team for the first time since being traded to the Canucks and he had to glove down an early power play chance. The Comets did fantastic work on this one and came up with a good kill.

Mazanec had to stop another after the penalty expired and the Comets went the other way. Kyle Thomas fed Reid Gardiner for a chance in tight that was denied by the good stick of a defender before Jalen Chatfield had his chance denied as well.

Matt Petgrave followed up with a point shot through traffic that Huska shut down before we saw newcomer Dyson Stevenson show the home crowd one of the tools in his toolbox. Dyson threw down with Shawn O’Donnell in what was a spirited scrap that I will award to the new Comet.

With the pugilists in the box doing time, Jesse Graham hit Lukas Jasek with a stretch pass and Jasek dished to Stefan LeBlanc in full flight, but the Comets defender put his offering wide of the net. The pace was good in this one as the teams went back and forth.

Tim Gettinger got a shot off from the left side that Mazanec turned aside as the Wolf Pack started to apply some pressure.

The Comets followed up with some pressure of their own with a great shift from the Woods line.

Brandon Crawley caught Lukas Jasek up high and the young winger went down like a ton of bricks. Brandon Anselmini stepped in to show his displeasure, but cooler heads would prevail before a fight could break out. Jasek headed to the room with a towel over his face, while Crawley was given five for a check from behind as well as a 10-minute misconduct on the play.

This all happened at the 9:54 mark, and seconds later the Comets were up 1-0, thanks to a Tanner Kero goal. Cam Darcy picked up his 11th helper of the year on Kero’s 22nd marker, while Jesse Graham earned his 10th.

Kero followed up his goal by jumping on a Zack MacEwen rebound for another shot that was denied by Huska.

The Comets lead didn’t last long as Bobby Butler grabbed a shorthanded marker for his eighth goal of the year after Jesse Graham mishandled a pass and Butler went in all alone. The goal was unassisted.

Kole Lind was sent off for a high-stick just 30 seconds later and we saw some four aside action for roughly 1:30. Brendan Gaunce had a shot off the rush denied before MacEwen had a chance of his own off the rush turned aside as well. TheBigFella followed up by turning on the jets to break up an odd-man rush the other way.

The Comets were able to kill off the brief penalty to Lind.

Reid Gardiner ripped a shot from the right circle that was swallowed up by Huska before the netminder came up with a pad save on a redirected point shot through traffic. The Woods line followed up with a great shift in the offensive zone that opened up space for a Jalen Chatfield wrister that was tipped wide.

Carter Bancks was hammered with a stiff hit by Ryan Lindgren as time ran down in the opening frame. The Comets showed an 11-5 advantage on the shot clock.

It was good to see Lukas Jasek back out for the middle frame after leaving the ice for repairs in the first.

Mazanec had to come up with an early shoulder shrug for a quick save before Woods went to the net at the other end, looking for a loose puck that was quickly smothered by Huska for a whistle.

Woods wasn’t going to stop there as he took a one-timer feed from Brendan Gaunce, but Huska was equal to the task once more. The Wolf Pack went the other way and Shawn St. Amant had his second goal of the season. Terrence Wallin earned his first assist of the season on the play, while Sean Day picked up his seventh.

Stefan LeBlanc didn’t do his club any favours when he was dinged for a high-stick less than a minute later to put his team back to the kill.

Mazanec kicked out an early chance from Day before Ryan Gropp put his team up 2-1 with his ninth of the season. Sean Day dished the pass for his eighth helper of the year, while Ville Meskanen earned his 20th. The Comets were down 2-1 on goals that came 1:41 apart.

That was it for Mazanec as he was pulled in favour of Michael Leighton.

In the Comets end, Jalen Chatfield did nice work to muscle his man off the puck with the Wolf Pack pressing. Zack MacEwen followed up with a punishing hit in the offensive zone and Carter Bancks followed suit. The Bancks hit resulted in Matt Belesky being sent off for delay of game as he was pressured by the Comets captain and fired the puck out of play.

The Comets first unit was unable to make anything happen and the second didn’t fare a whole lot better, but Jasek did put a puck on the net with Kole Lind looking for garbage. Huska quickly covered up for a whistle and the Comets came up empty.

Vinni Lettieri followed up the Comets power play with a shot that Leighton had to glove down for a whistle before the Comets netminder had to stymie Meskanen from point blank range.

Vincent Arseneau was sent off for boarding at the 10:08 mark and the Comets had another penalty to kill. Kill it they did, and Arseneau nearly made up for his penalty when he was sent in all alone after he came out of the box, but Huska was ready with another save.

Dyson Stevenson came with a physical shift in the offensive zone before the Comets started to get sloppy. That sloppy play led to Ville Meskanen putting the Wolf Pack up 4-1 with his 11th goal of the season. Matt Beleskey earned the lone helper with his 17th assist of the year.

Reid Gardiner was back in the middle today, but I feel like he is better suited to the wing. The forward found himself with a decent scoring chance but put his shot into the logo on the front of Huska’s jersey.

We saw more back and forth as Tanner Kero hit MacEwen at speed with a pass and TheBigFella had his shot turned aside. Leighton had to come up with a save on Ty Ronning at the other end after some nifty passing by Hartford in the Utica zone.

The Woods line applied some late pressure with Kole Lind having a shot redirected wide of the net before John Gilmour went the other way with a shot that Leighton gobbled up.

That was it for the middle frame. The Wolf Pack showed an advantage of 9-8 on the shot clock.

The Comets were pretty flat in the middle frame and were down 4-1 because of it. Tanner Kero tried to pull his team back into it with a hot-shot off of a faceoff win that was quickly turned aside by Huska. Gardiner and Gaunce followed up with a one-time chance that was also denied by the Wolf Pack goaltender.

We saw some sloppy back and forth before Jaime Sifers clanged a shot off the bar that sat in the crease ever so briefly before being cleared out of harm’s way.

Ryan Gropp broke the other way with Steven Fogarty and was on the receiving end of a sweet feed for his 10th goal of the season and the Wolf Pack were up 5-1. Ouch! Fogarty earned his 29th assist of the year on the play, while Lettieri picked up his 23rd.

The Comets showed some life as Gaunce was denied from the slot before Petgrave had a shot stopped that saw the puck linger near the goal line briefly until it was swept out of the way. Lind followed up with a shot off the right side that was gobbled up by Huska to keep his team up by four.

Stefan LeBlanc showed his frustration when he tried to throw down with Greg Chase, but Chase wanted nothing to do with the ginger-haired defenceman. Both men would head to the box, with LeBlanc receiving an extra two minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct.

The Comets had a penalty to kill and Leighton had to shut down back-to-back chances from Darren Raddysh before MacEwen forced a shorthanded turnover but was unable to get his pass through to a waiting Tanner Kero. Leighton had to come up with another save and the Comets had a good kill in the books.

John Gilmour came back with another shot through traffic and Leighton denied him once more.

The Comets started to put on some pressure as Arseneau fed Lind for a one-timer, but the young winger heeled it. The Woods line kept the pressure up with some extended zone time and you could sense that a goal was coming.

Jesse Graham would be the man scoring it as he followed up his own rebound for his fourth goal of the season. Brandon Anselmini picked up his first helper of the year on the play, while Cam Darcy grabbed his 12th.

The Comets were within…three.

Jalen Chatfield let fly with a shot at one end that he couldn’t get through before Michael Leighton showed a smart stick at the other to poke the puck out of a dangerous area.

Carter Bancks was playing in his 305th game today for the Comets, which breaks the old record held by Darren Archibald. Congrats Carter! The Comets captain took an extra poke or two at the puck in the Hartford crease and that caused another brief scrum to break out.

Brendan Woods was sent off for slashing at the 16:21 mark and it was back to the penalty kill for the Comets. It took Bancks 24 seconds to make it a 5-3 game with his fourth goal of the season. The shorthanded marker was set up by Stefan LeBlanc, with his 10th assist of the season, and Brendan Gaunce with his 19th.

Zack MacEwen kept the shorthanded chances coming when he took the puck hard to the net, only to be shut down by Huska once again. The Comets came up with a good kill thanks to their great efforts.

Leighton had to glove down a point shot just as the penalty ended and he was soon summoned to the bench for the extra attacker. That was with 1:25 remaining in the game. With 53 seconds left, the Comets called their timeout.

With 51 seconds left, Lukas Jasek was sent off for interference and the Comets would finish the game with a man in the box and an empty net. TheBigFella nearly came to blows with Raddysh in the late going, but the officials intervened and the game came to an end.

The Comets showed a 9-6 advantage on the third period shot clock and a 28-20 advantage for the game but lost 5-3.

Belleville won 6-5 in overtime today, which puts them four points up on the Comets for the final playoff spot in the North Division…oh, and Cleveland also picked up a point today in their overtime loss, pulling them even with the Comets in points, but slightly ahead of them in the all-important winning percentage stat. Yikes!

Kero (22) from Darcy (11) and Graham (10). Power play goal.

Graham (4) from Anselmini (1) and Darcy (12).

Bancks (4) from LeBlanc (10) and Gaunce (19). Shorthanded.

3rd Star: Carter Bancks. Shorthanded goal. 305th game for the Comets.

2nd Star: Ville Meskanen. One goal, one assist.

1st Star: Ryan Gropp. Two goals.

3rd Star: Carter Bancks. Once again, with a seven-game losing skid happening, it can be difficult to hand out stars to players. That said, I do have to give credit where it is due and Bancks picked up a solid shorthanded goal today. The captain also played in his 305th game as a Comet to break the previous record set by Darren Archibald. Bancks doesn’t provide much in the way of offence for this team, but his work on the defensive side of things can’t be understated.

2nd Star: Jesse Graham. The Comets defender picked up his fourth goal of the season today, along with his 10th assist. Without Olli Juolevi, Luke Schenn, and Evan McEneny around for the rest of the season, those 14 points now lead the Comets back end. He will have to keep those points coming to help the Comets beat the odds and make the playoffs this year.

1st Star: Cam Darcy. Darcy picked up two more helpers today to bring him to 21 points in 51 games this season. That leaves the pivot just four points shy of beating his career-high of 24 set last season with the Comets. That is decent secondary scoring for a man on an AHL deal with the team. It would probably be better for the team if they could slide him down a line and not have to use him in a top-six role, but the man certainly brings everything he can to the table.

Game #66

At Belleville Senators

Wednesday, March 20th, 2019

7:00 pm Eastern/4:00 pm Pacific