CanucksArmy Utica Comets Post-Game: Adam Comrie’s Three Points and Philip Holm’s Overtime Goal Power Comets to 3-2 Win Over The Devils

The 21st overall Utica Comets hit the road today to take on the 29th ranked Binghamton Devils. The two teams have played each other twice this season with each team picking up a 2-1 win. The Comets came into the game with 39 points on the season, while the Devils had 28.

I was hoping that we would see former Canuck, Eddie Lack today, but that didn’t appear likely. Ben Birnell of the Utica Observer-Dispatch sent out a tweet letting us know that a Lack sighting might be unlikely. MacKenzie Blackwood would end up getting the start today for the Devils.

Coming into the game, Utica sat ninth in the league on the power-play with an 18.6% rate of conversion. Their penalty-kill sat seventh, having an 85.7% effective rate. The Devils had the AHL’s 14th ranked power-play converting on 17.5% of their opportunities. Their penalty-kill, meanwhile, sat 15th after killing off 83.2% of the power-plays that they have faced this season.

Reid Boucher added to his team-leading point totals yesterday against Syracuse when he picked up his 17th goal of the season. Boucher also has 14 assists this season to give him 31 points in 28 games played. Philip Holm was still the Comets points leader on the back end with seven goals and 12 assists to give him 19 points on the season. Zack MacEwen was the Comets points leader amongst rookies with three goals and 14 assists to give him 17 points in 32 games.

Blue-liner Jacob MacDonald was the Devils’ points leader with 12 goals and 18 assists to give him 30 points in 36 games. Forward Nick Lappin was their leader up front with 14 goals and nine helpers to give him 23 points in 31 games. Nathan Bastian was their rookie points leader with seven goals and five assists to give him 12 points in 32 games.

The Comets were coming off of a 3-2 loss to the Syracuse Crunch, while the Devils were coming off a loss of their own, 5-2 to the Rochester Americans. Utica had gone 5-3-0-2 over their previous 10 games, while Binghamton had gone 2-6-1-1 over the same span.

Coming into today’s action, the Comets had gone 10-5-2-1 on the road, while the Devils had a home record of 6-11-2-0.

The Comets had been outscored 109-107 before the game today, while the Devils had been outscored this season as well, by a count of 128-94.

The Comets got some good news today as it was announced that Nikolay Goldobin was on his way back to join the team from the parent Vancouver Canucks. Goldobin played in 14 games while up with the Canucks, picking up two goals and two assists. Canucks head coach Travis Green said that they didn’t want Goldobin sitting around and not playing and that they wanted him back in Utica so he could be put in positions that he wouldn’t get in Vancouver. The Canucks were sending Goldobin down to clear space for Brandon Sutter who is expected to play before the Canucks upcoming bye week.

In other Comets news, Ben Birnell of the Utica Observer-Dispatch sent out another tweet that caught my eye. It seems that Darren Archibald is closing in on a games-played record with the Comets.

Scratched today for the Comets were: Carter Bancks, (injured), Jaime Sifers, (injured), Yan-Pavel Laplante, (injured), Jayson Megna, (injured), Joe LaBate, (injured), Brendan Woods, (injured), Griffen Molino, (injured), Alexis D’Aoust, (injured), Evan McEneny, (injured),  Anton Cederholm, Marco Roy, Patrick Wiercioch, (injured), and Tony Cameranesi.

24 Reid Boucher (A) – 11 Cam Darcy – 15 Zack MacEwen

25 Darren Archibald (A) – 19 Cole Cassels – 58 Michael Carcone

18 Vincent Arseneau – 12 Danny Moynihan – 82 Andrew Cherniwchan

22 David Dziurzynski – 36 Wacey Hamilton (A) – 14 Brady Brassart

52 Philip Holm – 55 Guillaume Brisebois

6 Ashton Sautner – 8 Dylan Blujus

44 Adam Comrie – 5 Jalen Chatfield

32 Richard Bachman

The Comets got off to a better start today than they did yesterday as far as being ready to play. Philip Holm had an early shot that was turned aside by Mackenzie Blackwood, Zack MacEwen grabbed the rebound and put it back on net, only to see it turned aside as well. Blackwood was busy in the first period and he was very good.

Michael Carcone set Darren Archibald up for a one-timer, but the big winger fired it wide. John Quenneville had a chance the other way, sending a low shot on Richard Bachman, but Bacher turned it aside.

Bracken Kearns put the home team up 1-0 at the 1:48 mark when he redirected a Josh Jacobs point shot past Bachman. The goal was Kearns’ eighth of the season, while Jacobs picked up his 13th helper of the season on the play and Ben Thomson picked up his fifth helper of the year.

Right after the Kearns goal, Nick Lappin and Blake Pietila came in on an odd-man rush, but they ended up sending their chance wide of the net.

The Comets would get their first chance on the power-play at the 3:12 mark when Tim Kennedy was sent off for tripping. Utica would have their chances on the power-play but they were unable to convert.

Cam Darcy was back in the lineup and he was at his agitating best early. He was in the face of Michael Latta and the two were jawing away at each other pretty good.

The Comets were getting pucks on net in the first, forcing Blackwood into making consecutive saves off of Archibald, Carcone and Holm.

The puck came back the other way and it was Bachman swallowing up a Ryan Penny point shot.

This game had it’s physical moments as well. Andrew Cherniwchan upended Kearns and was then charged by Ben Thomson. Vincent Arseneau was having none of that and he intervened. The refs would settle everyone down and the game would continue without a penalty assessed to anyone.

David Dziuzynski has been physical in nearly every game he has played with the Comets and today was no different. He absolutely clobbered Jan Mandat just inside the Devils’ zone with a big hit.

Jalen Chatfield let fly with a point shot and a scrum ensued after the save. One again, Dziurzynski was front and centre, this time with Thomson on the receiving end of his ire. Thomson would leave the fracas with a roughing penalty.

Reid Boucher would have a wrister turned aside before Adam Comrie tied the game with his fourth of the year. He now has four points in his last three games. Dylan Blujus picked up yet another point with his seventh assist. He now has eight points in 13 games with the Comets. The guy he has replaced, Jordan Subban, has nine points in 25 games split between Utica and Ontario.

The Dziurzynski, Hamilton, Brassart line was really laying the body in the late going of this one. The Comets brought their big-boy game today.

Guillaume Brisebois had a nice shot swallowed up by Blackwood after he was set up off of the draw.

Reid Boucher was whistled for hooking with 12 seconds left in the period.The penalty was just the fourth minor of the season for Boucher. The Comets would kill off the remainder of the period and would finish with a 15-8 advantage on the shot clock.

The Comets found themselves down 2-1 early in the second period when Tim Kennedy picked up his first of the season at the 3:45 mark. Michael Latta picked up his 10th helper of the season on the play, while Michael Kapla earned his sixth.

John Quenneville was sending the pucks on net today, having five in the first two periods. Bachman appeared to have his number though.

The two teams went back and forth but the play was a little sloppy in the early going of the second period.

Dylan Blujus was once again showing that he is adept at blocking shots. I feel Like Tortorella would love this guy.

Reid Boucher was dishing the passes again today. He sent a seeing eye, cross-ice pass to Brisebois in the offensive zone but the defenseman’s shot was turned aside by the blocker of Blackwood.

Dziurzynski sent the Comets back to the penalty-kill at the 11:44 mark when he was whistled for tripping.

Bachman was huge on the kill, making back to back saves off of Quenneville and Kearns. Wacey Hamilton put the Comets down two men at the 12:19 mark to give the Devils an extended five on three man advantage. Archibald, Sautner and Blujus were the first three out on the kill and Blujus came up with another big shot block which allowed Bachman to cover up and smother the puck.

Philip Holm, Jalen Chatfield, and Cole Cassels were the next three out, and this time it was Chatfield with the heady block to break up a scoring chance. Chatfield just keeps showing that he has great defensive-awareness to go along with his blazing wheels.

Bachman wasn’t letting his defensemen do all the work though, as he made a nice save off of a one-timer.

Quenneville had another shot that Bachman flashed the leather on to keep the centerman off the board.

The Comets killed off the five on three portion of the power-play and Blackwood turned the puck over to Dziurzynski after he exited the box. Dziurzynski set up Boucher who was stopped by Blackwood.

Bachman had one more save to make off of Brian Strait and that was it for the Devils power-play.

Dylan Blujus would send the Devils right back to the power-play though when he was sent off for hooking at the 16:28 mark. Michael Kapla had his point shot turned aside by Bachman and then the netminder made another save through traffic. Lappin had a one-timer turned aside by Bachman as well. The Comets netminder would turn aside one more chance by Kearns before the horn sounded to end the period. The Comets would end the period being outshot 14-5.

The third period of this game was a lot more exciting than the first two were. Boucher had an early chance turned aside and the puck came down the other way where Bachman had to make a save on Kapla.

Cam Darcy can be a decent playmaker and he set Boucher up from behind the Devils’ net, but Boucher’s shot was turned aside by Blackwood.

Philip Holm followed up Boucher’s chance with two of his own but again, Blackwood was equal to the task.

Ryan Penny had a nice backhander on the Utica net but he was stymied by Bachman, who was having a heck of a game today for the Comets.

Another scrum broke out behind the Comets net after Bachman’s save on Penny, and once again, Ben Thomson was in the middle of it all. Thomson and Arseneau were both sent off for roughing and the teams would play some four aside action.

During the four-on-four play, Ashton Sautner loaded up a shot with Boucher hovering around the net, but Blackwood made the save and froze the puck.

Boucher followed that up with a shot from the slot off a faceoff win, but he fired it right into the Devil’s face on the front of Blackwood’s jersey.

Bachman was not going to be outdone by Blackwood as he made a nice save through traffic on a Yaroslav Dyblenko point shot. Dyblenko would take an interference penalty right after the save to send the Comets to the power-play.

Boucher leads the Comets with 13 points on the power-play on seven goals and six assists. Philip Holm was right behind him with 10 power-play points with his five goals and five assists. Neither would pick up another point on this power-play, but we would be hearing from Holm a little later.

The Comets did get some chances on this one though, as Cole Cassels had a redirect chance covered by Blackwood. Dylan Blujus had a nice chance turned aside as well.

Bachman was giving his team a chance as he was forced into making a save on a shorthanded opportunity by Kevin Rooney.

Not long after the penalty expired, Jalen Chatfield showed once more why he reminds me of Chris Tanev. Chatfield took a heavy hit in his own end from John Quenneville, but the rookie blue-liner popped right back up as though nothing had happened.

Adam Comrie has been playing well for the Comets since joining them on a PTO and the defenseman has a bomb of a shot. He used that bomb to pick up his second goal of the game at the 16:10 mark of the third. Zack MacEwen set up shop in front of Blackwood and Comrie used the screen to his advantage. The goal was Comrie’s fifth of the season and fourth with the Comets, (Comrie played 10 games with Lehigh Valley this season and picked up one goal and two assists while with the Phantoms). Reid Boucher picked up his 15th helper of the season on the play, while Cam Darcy earned his 11th.

Boucher was showing a little snarl in his game when he got into it with Colton White in front of the Devils’ bench. Boucher gave White the ole stinky glove with a pretty heavy facewash.

It didn’t look great for the Comets when Ashton Sautner was whistled for interference with less than two minutes remaining in the third period. John Quenneville launched a one-timer at Bachman, but once again, Bacher had his number. Quenneville had seven shots on net today but there was no way he was beating Bachman in this one.

The Comets would get out of the period and make it to overtime. The shots on goal in the third period favoured Utica 9-8.

The Comets still had 16 seconds left to kill off of the Sautner minor, and kill it they did, but not before Bachman made a blocker save off of the stick of Tim Kennedy.

Are any of you old enough to remember the TV show Different Strokes? There was a character on that show called ” The Gooch.” The Gooch, you see was a bully who used to push around Arnold Drummond. Well, that is who Darren Archibald reminds me of when he’s on the ice. He is a bully but in the best of ways.

Archibald absolutely ran over Tim Kennedy at the Comets blue-line, stole his lunch money and took the puck down the ice for a scoring chance. The Archbald shot was turned aside, but I bet Kennedy will be nervous anytime he sees “The Gooch” coming his way again.

Richard Bachman saw three shots in overtime, one of them was a shot by Kapla, who had about an hour all alone in front to pick his spot. He picked the wrong spot and Bachman made the save.

Carcone, Hamilton, and Comrie had a nice shift when the teams got back to three-on-three action. The three men skated and passed the puck around the Devils’ zone until Carcone was able to get a shot off. His shot would go off Blackwood’s lid though.

Brian Strait was whistled for interference at the 4:17 mark of the extra frame, and 10 seconds later Philip Holm would make him feel shame. Adam Comrie would pick up his third point of the day and fourth assist of the season on Holm’s eighth goal, and sixth on the power-play.

That was it in Bingo. The overtime period finished with each team registering three shots on goal.

The Three Stars in the building today were:

3rd Star: Tim Kennedy. One goal.

2nd Star: Adam Comrie. Two goals, one assist.

1st Star: Philip Holm. One goal.

3rd Star: Philip Holm. The slick-skating Swede scored the game-winner, in overtime. The goal was Holm’s eighth of the season and his fifth on the power-play. He now has 11 power-play points on the season, and 20 points total in 31 games. I would imagine that the powers that be in Vancouver might be noticing Holm’s play and it may allow them to feel a little better about possible trades involving one or more of their defensemen up top. One would think that we will see Holm in Vancouver for at least a handful of games before this season is out.

2nd Star: Richard Bachman. Bachman finally caught a break. The Comets backup netminder has been playing well in many of his games, only to come out on the wrong side of the win column at the end of the game. Bachman made 31 saves on 33 shots and on more than one occasion did he pull out a game-saving stop.

1st Star: Adam Comrie. Comrie scored twice and added the lone assist on the Holm overtime goal. Comrie has played in eight games for the Comets since signing his PTO and he has put up four goals and two assists to give him six points. That is the kind of production that may make the Comets not miss Philip Holm quite as much should he get called up to the Canucks down the stretch. I have a feeling that Comrie may land an AHL deal with the Comets at the end of his PTO.