CanucksArmy Utica Comets Post-Game: Boucher’s Four-Point Night Powers Comets to a 5-1 Victory Over Hartford

The 22nd overall Utica Comets hit the road today to take on the 26th ranked Wolf Pack in Hartford. This was the second meeting between the two teams and the first of three meetings this month. The last time the two clubs met, Hartford skated away with a 4-1 win.

The Wolf Pack were sporting some pretty solid special teams’ numbers. Their power-play sat seventh in the league, converting on 20.4% of their opportunities. Their penalty-kill, meanwhile, sat ninth overall, having killed off 84.8% of the penalties they had taken.

The Comets power-play was ranked 13th in the AHL with a 17.5% success rate, while their penalty-kill sat seventh with an 85.4% success rate.

Hartford had gone 5-4-0-1 over their last 10 games and they were coming off of a 3-2 loss to the Syracuse Crunch. The Comets meanwhile, had gone 4-3-1-2 over the same span and were coming off of a 5-2 victory over Laval.

Utica had been outscored by a count of 104-95 thus far this season, while the Wolf Pack had been outscored 129-104 by their opponents so far.

Just one point separated the two clubs coming into today’s action, while they were four spots apart in the standings. The Comets came into today with a road record of 8-5-2-1, while the Wolf Pack had gone 5-4-0-1 at home so far this season.

Reid Boucher was the Comets leading scorer with 25 points in 25 games. More on Boucher below. Outside of Boucher, rookie Zack MacEwen led the Comets in points with 15 in 29 games this season. Philip Holm was still the big cheese on the blue-line with 17 points in 29 games.

On the good news front for the Comets, we found out today that the club would be getting their leading scorer back from the Canucks. Reid Boucher has been reassigned to the Comets by the Canucks.

Scratched today for the comets were: Wacey Hamilton, (injured), Yan-Pavel Laplante, (injured), Jaime Sifers, (injured), Cam Darcy, (injured), Jayson Megna, (injured), Griffen Molino, (injured), Brady Brassart, (injured), Joe LaBate, (injured), Evan McEneny, (injured), Carter Bancks, (injured), Alexis D’Aoust, (injured), Cliff Watson, Marco Roy, and Anton Cederholm.

24 Reid Boucher – 27 Tony Cameranesi – 15 Zack MacEwen

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

18 Vincent Arseneau – 20 Brendan Woods – 82 Andrew Cherniwchan

22 David Dziurzynski – 12 Danny Moynihan – 44 Adam Comrie

28 Patrick Wiercioch – 5 Jalen Chatfield

52 Philip Holm – 55 Guillaume Brisebois

6 Ashton Sautner (A) – 8 Dylan Blujus

32 Richard Bachman

The first period would kick off with an early power-play for Utica. Ryan Graves was sent off for hooking just 11 seconds into the period. The Comets would be unable to make anything happen with their first man advantage of the game.

Just over two minutes after the power-play ended, Reid Boucher reminded everyone why he was named to the AHL All-Star Game when he picked up his 14th goal of the season. Newcomer David Dziurzynski picked up his first assist with the Comets on the play, while Jalen Chatfield earned his fourth helper of the year.

The red-hot Cole Cassels and Michael Carcone nearly hooked up on another goal when Cassels set Carcone up but the winger was unable to convert.

The two teams had some good back and forth action in what was a pretty even period of hockey. Darren Archibald was trying to keep putting up points when he fired a wrister that was turned aside by Hartford netminder, Alexandar Georgiev.

Ashton Sautner would put the Comets on the penalty-kill at the 10:18 mark when he was whistled for slashing. Richard Bachman was standing tall, making a nice save off of the stick of Peter Holland. The Comets penalty-killers would get down to work and kill off the minor.

Zack MacEwen was showing that he can dish a nice pass when he sent Vincent Arseneau in, but the winger ripped the puck wide. MacEwen doesn’t have a pile of goals this season, but he is showing that he can play with good players and that he can pass the puck well.

The Comets would get their second power-play of the game when Ryan Graves was sent off for boarding at the 13:28 mark. It would take Boucher roughly 30 seconds to make Graves feel shame. Boucher picked up his second goal of the game and 15th of the season when he fired a laser over the shoulder of Georgiev to put the Comets up 2-0. Philip Holm picked up his 12th assist of the season on the play, while Michael Carcone earned his fifth.

Andrew Cherniwchan dished out a nice hit in the neutral zone shortly after the goal. Cherniwchan has been noticeable in most of the games that he has played for the Comets this season.

Archibald and Carcone teamed up late for a nice chance when Archibald dished to Carcone but the winger’s shot was deflected out of play.

Zack Macewen would be sent off for delay of game at the 19:38 mark when he sent a puck over the glass. The Comets would finish the period on the penalty-kill. The first-period shot clock would favour Utica by a count of 11-10.

The Comets would start the second period shorthanded with Zack MacEwen’s penalty carrying over from the first period. Dylan Blujus looked to be hurt on a shot-block during the penalty-kill, but he would return. The Comets would kill the MacEwen minor.

Andrew Cherniwchan sent a puck into the Hartford zone that took an odd bounce and Vincent Arseneau pounced on it, getting a scoring chance, but he was unable to bury it.

Ashton Sautner fired a point shot on net and Adam Comrie tipped it, but once again, Georgiev was ready with a save. Comrie has been showing well over the last couple of games, playing out of position as a forward.

Philip Holm would put the Comets back onto the penalty-kill when he was whistled for interference at the 4:41 mark. Boucher was back in his familiar position on the penalty-kill, but not with his regular partner Carter Bancks, who was out with an injury. Boucher was paired with Danny Moynihan and the duo did great work to help kill the Holm minor.

Bachman was very good on the kill, making three consecutive saves to keep the Comets up by a pair.

Shortly after, Reid Boucher hustled into the Wolf Pack zone and drew an interference penalty on Brandon Crawley. It took Darren Archibald less than a minute to put a puck past Georgiev. Archibald earned his fifth goal of the season on the play, while Michael Carcone picked up his sixth assist of the season. Reid Boucher earned his 13th assist of the season and third point of the day on the play as well.

The Comets would go right back onto the power-play at the 8:56 mark when Anthony DeAngelo was sent off for slashing. Archibald had the best chance on the power-play when he took a Boucher pass and tried to lift a backhander over the glove of Georgiev, but the netminder made the save.

Patrick Wiercioch had a big blast from the point as well, but his shot was blocked before it could do any damage.

Jalen Chatfield, who I have praised in the space on many occasions, showed that he is still a rookie when he had a tough shift in his own end. The rookie tried unsuccessfully, three times to clear the puck out of the zone, only to see it kept in. Fortunately, the puck finally did make its way out of the Comets’ zone without any harm done.

The Comets were doing a solid job of keeping the Hartford shooters to the outside when they were in the Utica zone.

Chatfield showed his superb passing skills when he sent MacEwen in with a nice stretch pass, but the big winger was unable to get a clear shot off.

The Comets would get another power-play late when Caleb Herbert was sent off for hooking at the 17:07 mark. The Comets were unable to score with the man advantage.

The final shot clock tally for the second period showed the Comets with an 11-9 edge.

The third period would see another early penalty called when Ryan Sproul was sent off for hooking at the three-minute mark. The Comets would have some good pressure on the power-play but were unable to get anything to go.

Utica would find themselves on the penalty-kill 30 seconds after their power-play when Brendan Woods was sent off for slashing. The Wolf Pack were putting a lot of their chances wide of the net on this one and the Comets came away unscathed.

Chatfield broke up the ice after the kill, showing his speed again, getting a shot off, but Georgiev was ready with another save.

Andrew Cherniwchan was noticeable with his speed on a nice backcheck to break up a Hartford scoring chance. Trent Cull has everyone pulling on the same end of the rope in Utica and it shows with a buy-in from everyone.

Anthony DeAngelo had a nice chance, breaking down the boards to the right of Bachman. He fired a shot on net that handcuffed Bachman, but the netminder was able to make the save.

Philip Holm would send the Comets back to the penalty-kill at the 10:37 mark when he was sent off for high-sticking. Bachman was good today, but he was lucky at times as well. DeAngelo ripped a shot on net and it was deflected. The crowd heard the puck ring off the iron and breathed a sigh of relief. It was right around this time that the voice of the Comets, Andy Zilch mentioned that it had been a while since Bachman had a shutout. I think you can guess what happened next.

Peter Holland scored, that’s what happened. Holland picked up his 12th goal of the season, while Neal Pionk earned his ninth assist and Anthony DeAngelo was awarded his 11th. Andy Zilch gets an apple on that one too. Full credit to Zilch for immediately taking full ownership for mentioning “the S word” and being directly responsible for the goal. Just kidding Andy, we will let it slide…this time.

The Holland goal came at the 11:17 mark, and the Reid Boucher hattrick goal came at the 12:12 mark. That’s right, Boucher had been back with the Comets for about 12 minutes and he had three goals and a helper. I’m sure Comets fans are thrilled to have him back. I bet there are also one or two fans in Vancouver scratching their heads and wondering why Boucher had been in Vancouver since December 17th and only got into three games. For Boucher, that was goal number three of the day and number 16 on the season. Defenseman, Dylan Blujus picked up his fourth assist of the season, while Tony Cameranesi was awarded his second. Blujus now has five points in 10 games since joining the Comets on a PTO.

 

Andrew Cherniwchan would put the Comets back onto the penalty-kill at the 13:51 mark when he was whistled for slashing. Ashton Sautner and Dylan Blujus were shot-blocking machines on this kill. The two were sacrificing their bodies to keep the puck out of harm’s way and kept the Hartford power-play from doing any damage. Bachman did his part with a couple of solid saves as well.

Michael Carcone kept up his scoring pace when he fired the puck into an empty net at the 16:53 mark. Georgiev had just made it to the bench and Carcone deposited his eighth goal of the season into the yawning cage. David Dziurzynski earned his second assist of the game on the play, while Darren Archibald picked up his fifth helper of the season. That makes 13 points in the last 13 games for Carcone. *Edit; The Dziurzynski assist has been changed to Tony Cameranesi.

The final minutes were pretty uninspiring. The Wolf Pack looked the part of a team that just wanted to get this game over with and get off the ice. The shot clock in the third period showed Hartford with a 12-8 edge, for a 32-29 advantage in shots for the game. That was it for this one in Hartford.

The Three Stars in the building today were:

3rd Star: Richard Bachman. 31 saves.

2nd Star: Michael Carcone. One goal, two assists.

1st Star: Reid Boucher. Three goals, one assist.

3rd Star: Darren Archibald. The big man put up two more points today with his goal and assist. Archibald has been back with the team for four games since coming off an injury and he has registered three goals and two assists in that span. He also scored a shootout goal in a loss. One can only wonder where this team would be if they had been healthier this season. Today, Archibald picked up his two points and played another physical game. His line with Cassels and Carcone has been very, very good during the last four games and they’ve given the Comets a good chance to stay competitive.

2nd Star: Michael Carcone. Not to be outdone by his linemate, Carcone picked up a goal and two helpers today. Carcone has put up a goal and three helpers over the Comets last two games. The speedy winger continues to play an in-your-face style that gets under his opponents skin. He is becoming an important part of this Comets offence this season, which probably wasn’t expected at the start of the year. If the Comets can keep getting games like this from Carcone, Cassels, and Archibald, coupled with the return of Boucher, I could see them pushing for a playoff spot.

1st Star: Reid Boucher. Boucher got back into the lineup today after spending a few weeks in Vancouver and he promptly scored three goals and picked up an assist. Boucher now has 16 goals and 13 assists to give him 29 points in 26 games. He put seven shots on net today as well. When Boucher is getting that many shots in a game, it usually indicates that he’s having a good outing. I wish the Canucks had given him more of an opportunity while he was up, but I am glad, for the Comets’ sake that he is back in Utica.