CanucksArmy Utica Comets Post-Game: Comets Allow Five Unaswered Goals, Fall 5-2 to Belleville

Game #45

Vs Belleville Senators

Saturday, January 19th, 2019

2:00 pm Eastern/11:00 am Pacific

Richard Bachman, (out for season) Olli Juolevi, (out for regular season) Jalen Chatfield, (month-to-month) Ashton Sautner, (month-to-month) Vincent Arseneau, (day-to-day) Wacey Hamilton, (day-to-day) Lukas Jasek, (day-to-day) Luke Schenn, (in transit) and Cliff Watson.

20 Tom Pyatt – 17 Adam Gaudette – 24 Reid Boucher (A)

54 Jonathan Dahlen – 16 Brendan Gaunce – 15 Zack MacEwen

34 Carter Bancks (C) – 11 Cam Darcy – 13 Kole Lind

19 Tanner MacMaster – 21 Brendan Woods – 22 Jonah Gadjovich

2 Evan McEneny – 26 Jaime Sifers (A)

55 Guillaume Brisebois – 8 Dylan Blujus

64 Jesse Graham – 39 Colton Saucerman

49 Michael Leighton

31 Ivan Kulbakov (backing up)

This game started off with a bit of emotion as former longtime Comets forward Darren TheMayor Archibald started for the Sens in what was a strange look for Comets fans.

Michael Leighton got the start in this one and he came up with an early save after kicking out a leg to shut down a chance from Stefan Elliott. The Comets netminder followed up with a stick save to keep the game knotted at zero early.

Brendan Woods brings a physical edge to the Comets and like to dish the hits. He made sure to get an early hit in on Joe LaBate that sent the former Comets forward on a slow and uncomfortable skate back to the bench.

Evan McEneny is a big dude and he and Archibald had a pretty good battle going in the Comets zone that started in the corner and worked its way in front of the net. McEneny wasn’t going to back down or let Arch have his way in the Comets end.

Reid Boucher brought the moves when he whipped out the how’s she goin’ in the neutral zone to beat a defender before breaking in with a chance that handcuffed goaltender Marcus Hogberg, but the netminder was able to hold on for a save.

Filip Chlapik sent the Comets to the power play when he was sent off for hooking at the 3:56 mark.

MacEwen had an early chance denied and Hogberg followed up with another save before Evan McEneny sent a point shot on the net that deflected in off a defender’s stick.

The goal was originally credited to Jonathan Dahlen for his 12th of the season, assisted by McEneny with his 18th helper of the year, and Adam Gaudette with his sixth. The goal was ultimately given to McEneny, for his sixth, assisted by Gaudette with his sixth, and Boucher with his 22nd.

The Sens were looking to even it up, coming back the other way with a pair of chances. The first was kicked aside by Leighton, while the second was a shot from Erik Burgdoerfer that was gloved down by the netminder for a whistle.

McEneny was looking to keep adding to his points totals with a sweet stretch pass to Boucher for a chance. The winger whipped out his moves and beat Hogberg, but clanged the iron. Leighton followed up with a save on a point shot at the other end before TheBigFella put his club up 2-0.

MacEwen picked off a puck in the neutral zone and danced in, letting fly with a laser of a shot, putting it top shelf, where Grampie Cliff stashes the honey. The unassisted goal was MacEwen’s 16th of the season. Yeah, those 18 goals that I predicted for Zack this year are going to be eclipsed by a pretty wide margin.

Carter Bancks and Cam Darcy came looking for more when Bancks fed Darcy with a pass, sending the pivot in for a chance that drew a penalty shot. Hogberg came up with the save and it was still a 2-0 Comets lead.

Jonah Gadjovich has been playing well of late and he got a decent shot away from the point that Hogberg juggled, but was able to keep out of the net.

Stuart Percy was dinged for holding at the 10:16 mark and it was back to the power play for Utica. It was at this point that we had a commercial break and when the game came back up, they had just played a video to honour Archibald that had the big man welling up.

The Comets were unable to make anything happen while up a man and came away empty handed.

Kole Lind did nice work to force another turnover in the neutral zone before Morgan Klimchuk pulled his team to within a goal, beating Leighton high to the stick side. It was the eighth goal of the season for Klimchuk, while Drake Batherson picked up his 18th helper of the year on the play, and Stuart Percy grabbed his 17th.

Less than a minute later, the Comets were back to the kill as Jonathan Dahlen was whistled for interference and the Sens took advantage. It was Klimchuk again, this time with his ninth and the game was tied at two. Batherson picked up assist number 19 on the play, while Stefan Elliott earned his 13th.

Adam Gaudette came with all of the moves in the dying moments, looking to put his team back up a goal, but he was denied, as was Boucher. That was it for the opening frame as the Sens showed a 10-9 advantage in shots for the period.

The middle frame was an odd one as there were some goals scored, but not a ton of action. We saw some early back and forth before Jonah Gadjovich came up with another steal in the neutral zone. Gadjovich and Lind have been solid in terms of forcing turnovers for the Comets.

Adam Gaudette is having a fantastic season while in Utica and he broke in front for a chance that Hogberg turned aside before Gaudette followed up with another try that was also shut down.

The Gaunce line followed up the Gaudette shift with some great pressure in the offensive zone, as is their way.

At the other end, Leighton came up with a pair of kick saves before Darren Archibald found himself all alone in the slot and beat him to put the Sens up 3-2. The goal was Archibald’s first with the Sens and 12th of the season. Chase Balisy picked up his ninth helper of the year on the play, while Adam Tambellini earned his 11th.

There was more back and forth before Jesse Graham was dinged for interference and the Comets were back to the kill. It took just three seconds for Cody Goloubef to double the Sens lead with his fourth goal of the year. Jack Rodewald picked up his 17th assist of the season on the play, while Archibald earned his seventh for his second point of the game.

Gadjovich was looking to get one right back with a shot that ended up being steered out of play.

Brendan Gaunce was sent off for tripping at the 12:03 mark and it was back to the kill for the Comets. Leighton would have to kick out a shot for a save, but the Comets would come up with a good kill.

Archibald came looking for his second goal of the game with a shot that Leighton soaked up before Andreas Englund was sent off for interference at the 18:07 mark and the Comets would finish the period with a power play. Leighton had to shut down a shorthanded chance from Balisy before Boucher tipped a MacEwen offering wide at the other end.

The period ended with the Sens showing an 11-6 advantage on the shot clock for the middle frame.

The Comets started out the final frame in a two-goal ditch and we saw a pair of offsetting penalties dished out to Gaudette for high-sticking and Balisy for a cross-check just 27 seconds in.

Michael Leighton probably would have liked to get a few more practices in with the Comets before being pressed into duty, but the veteran netminder has done all of this before and showed reasonably well today. He had to come up with a handful of saves in short order as McCormick came in all alone, only to be denied. Leighton followed up with a save on a long shot through traffic as well as shutting down another Archibald chance.

We had some more four aside action as Brendan Woods and Morgan Klimchuck were assessed with coincidental minors and headed to the box. Woods was dinged for roughing, while Klimchuck was given an interference penalty.

Adam Tambellini had a shot soaked up off the left side before the teams were back at five aside and the Woods line brought some pressure in the Sens’ zone. There was some back and forth, but not a lot of shots.

MacEwen had a long shot stopped and covered before Dylan Blujus had a good chance stopped from in close and Hogberg swallowed it up for a whistle.

Boucher followed up with a spinning shot that he tried to sneak through, but Hogberg said, no. Leighton had to make a pair of saves on McCormick and Chlapik, but time was running out on the Comets.

Trent Cull’s club was putting on some pressure, but they were unable to make anything happen. MacEwen fed Gaunce with a nice pass for a backhander that was turned aside before Dahlen’s follow-up chance was also rebuffed by Hogberg.

With just under three minutes remaining, Cull summoned Leighton to the bench for the extra attacker and the Sens scored almost immediately to salt this one away. It was McCormick doing the deed this time, scoring his fifth of the season from Chlapik and Tambellini, who picked up their 10th and 12th helpers of the year respectively.

The Comets were trying to make something happen late as both of Gadjovich and Woods were denied by Hogberg and the Sens came away with the 5-2 victory.

The shots were tied at eight apiece in the third period, but Belleville had a 29-22 advantage for the game.

McEneny (6) from Gaudette (6) and Boucher (22). Power play goal.

MacEwen (16) unassisted.

3rd Star: Darren Archibald. One goal, (game-winner) one assist.

2nd Star: Zack MacEwen. One goal.

1st Star: Morgan Klimchuk. Two goals.

3rd Star: Evan McEneny. McEneny scored his sixth goal today, which puts him just two back of his career high of eight goals in a season set in 2016/17 over 64 games with the Comets. McEneny’s goal also brought him to 23 points on the season, tying the career high that he set for points in that same year. He is currently putting up 0.53 points/game for the Comets and leads the backend. Half of McEneny’s goals have come on the power play, while seven of his 17 helpers have come on the man advantage as well.

2nd Star: Adam Gaudette. Gaudette grabbed another assist today, bringing his stat line to the following state: 10 games played, five goals, six helpers, and 11 points. The rookie forward has one of his goals and two of his assists on the man advantage, so he is getting a lot of his work done at evens. He is seeing some time on both special teams, though not as much on the penalty kill as the power play. Gaudette is doing nice things in Utica, finding room to create offence and doing solid work in all three zones. Gaudette is currently the Comets all-time leader in points/game with 1.111 points/game, although in a very, very small sample size of 10 games.

1st Star: Zack MacEwen. MacEwen scored a beauty today to bring his season totals to 16 goals and 20 helpers in 44 games. He has missed just one game this season and that was for a suspension, so the young man has proven to be durable for his club. Five of his 16 goals have come on the power play, while seven of his assists have come via the man advantage as well. Those are nice PP numbers for TheBigFella, while also showing that he gets it done at five-on-five play. He has taken on a regular role on the Utica penalty kill and has formed one-third of one of the Comets most potent offensive trios with Gaunce and Dahlen. At 0.82 points/game, MacEwen is currently on pace for 27 goals and 34 assists, which would see him finish with 61 points. For reference, Pascal Pelletier set the Comets single-season-points record back in the club’s first season in 2013/14 with 62 points. Cal O’Reilly followed up the next season with 61 and nobody has been close since.

Game #46

At Rochester Americans

Friday, January 25th, 2019

7:05 pm Eastern/4:05 pm Pacific