CanucksArmy Utica Comets Post-Game: Comets Comeback Bid Falls Short in 4-3 Loss To Bridgeport

Game #27

Bridgeport Sound Tigers at Utica Comets

Friday, December 13th, 2019

7:00 pm Eastern/4:00 pm Pacific

(First forward line/defence pair listed started the game. The remainder are in no particular order)

47 Sven Baertschi – 17 Seamus Malone – 24 Reid Boucher (A)

95 Justin Bailey – 9 Lukas Jasek – 13 Kole Lind

77 Nikolay Goldobin – 19 Carter Camper – 27 Francis Perron

21 Jonah Gadjovich – 34 Carter Bancks (C) – 18 Vincent Arseneau

48 Olli Juolevi – 5 Jalen Chatfield

6 Ashton Sautner (A) – 25 Brogan Rafferty

 4 Josh Teves – 8 Dylan Blujus

31 Zane McIntyre

32 Richard Bachman (backing up)

This was a back and forth opening frame that saw the Sound Tigers go up 3-0 before Reid Boucher hammered home a late goal to bring his team to within a pair. Zane McIntyre got the start in this one for the Comets.

Seamus Malone forced an early turnover at the offensive blue line but the Comets were unable to make anything of it.

We had some back and forth as McIntyre had to stop a chance from a net-side scramble before Malone went the other way and made a nifty move at the Tigers’ blue line to beat his man but saw his shot kicked aside by Jared Coreau.

Frankie Perron has shown some playmaker’s mitts this season and he threw the puck into the slot for Goldy to redirect but Coreau was ready with the save. Gadjovich followed up with a takeaway to feed Bancks for a chance but Coreau was there again.

At the other end, Oliver Wahlstrom had his chance denied by McIntryre, as did Kieffer Bellows and Jeff Kubiak. Boucher, Perron, and Lind hooked up on a nice passing play but couldn’t get a shot away at the other end.

The Comets were dinged for having too-many-men on the ice at the 9:02 mark and it was off to the penalty kill. The usual suspects came out to start this one off and we saw Jasek with a smart stick to take away passing options for the Tigers.

Baertschi, Boucher, Juolevi, and Blujus took over and Blujus came up with a shot block… because he’s Dylan Blujus and that’s kind of his thing. Andrew Ladd ripped a shot off the iron before Travis St.Denis fired a one-timer past McIntyre for his fourth of the season. Nick Schilkey earned his fourth helper of the year on the play, while Otto Koivula grabbed his fifth.

Goldobin followed up the goal by winning a puck battle at the offensive blue line but the Comets couldn’t keep control of the puck and the Sound Tigers went back the other way.

Lukas Jasek came up with another takeaway and sent Lind off for a chance. Kole came up with a nice move to beat his man but fired his offering wide.

Seamus Malone was dinged for tripping at the 11:56 mark and it was back to the kill. Once again, Chatfield, Sautner, Bancks, and Jasek started things off and McIntyre had to kick aside a one-timer from Sebastian Aho before Chatfield used a smart stick to break up a play.

Ladd had a chance denied from in close as Bailey and Boucher took over along with Juolevi and Blujus. Boucher and Bailey both had shorthanded chances denied but the Comets came up with a good kill.

Lukas Jasek showed good hustle to get the puck up the ice after a long PK shift but the Tigers were soon right back in the Comets end and John Stevens tipped one past McIntyre for his second of the season. Kyle Burroughs was the set-up man with his second assist of the year, while Colin McDonald picked up his ninth.

Olli Juolevi was looking to get that one right back when he jumped on a puck and carried it into the Tiger’s end and let fly with a shot that Coreau had to squeeze to stop. The Bridgeport netminder looked behind him, but he made the save.

Jasek followed up with some great work to force another turnover in his own end before he sent Lind up the ice once more, where Kole drew a penalty.

It was Mike Cornell heading off for hooking and the Comets’ first power-play unit climbed over the boards. Unfortunately, so did John Stevens and he took advantage of a turnover and had his second goal of the game and third of the year. The shorthanded tally was unassisted.

Yuck! The shorthanded goal put the Comets down 3-0.

The Comets changed up a couple of players and Juolevi got a shot away that was redirected off the target. Boucher followed up with a cross-ice feed to Goldy but his shot was gloved down. Boucher tried another from the right circle and that was gobbled up by Coreau as well. The Comets power play came up empty but Reid Boucher soon scored to pull his team to within a pair.

We saw Boucher and Baerstchi use ALL of the ice on this give-and-go play for Reid’s 19th of the season. That goal ties Boucher with Darren Archibald for first on the team’s all-time goals list. Baertschi picked up his 18th assist of the season on the play, while Brogan Rafferty was credited with his 19th.

That goal came late in the period, but we still saw Jasek have a chance denied at one end and Wahlstrom stymied at the other. The teams were tied with 11 shots apiece in the opening frame.

Your first-period shot map:

We saw one more goal in the middle frame an unfortunately, it came off the stick of a Sound Tiger.

We had some early back before forth as Perron had a chance turned aside and Dylan Blujus let fly with a one-timer that was denied by Coreau. The Comets kept the pressure on as the Jasek line went to work. Justin Bailey had a pair of chances turned aside before the Tigers went the other way.

Vincent Arseneau ended up taking a pair of penalties along with a 10-minute misconduct after he blew up two men on one shift and was assessed with two for boarding, and two more for charging to go along with the misconduct.

The Comets killers did great work to kill the four minutes off as McIntyre got a glove on a Ladd offering before Bailey came up with a nice forecheck. Ladd came back with another chance that McIntyre got a blocker on and the Comets had a good kill in the books.

The Jasek line came right back with another strong shift and the Malone line followed up with a scramble in the Tigers’ crease but couldn’t make anything happen.

Tom Kuhnackl was sent off for a cross-check as a result of that scramble and the Comets were off to the kill. Brogan Rafferty quickly coughed up the puck and McIntyre was forced into a shorthanded save before the second unit took over and Francis Perron had to get on his horse to foil a shorthanded attempt by Mason Jobst. Nice work, Frankie.

The Comets power play came up empty.

Jalen Chatfield is not known for his offensive contributions at the pro level, but he had an early chance that Coreau shut down before McIntyre gloved down a long shot at the other end.

Reid Boucher has been a feisty one of late and he used a physical play to take Kyle Burroughs out of the play and the Comets ended up with a scoring chance soon after as the Jasek line looked dangerous once again.

McIntyre steered aside a shot through traffic and the Comets went back the other way where once again, Kole Lind drew a penalty. Kole seems to be adept at drawing penalties this season. It was Sebastian Aho heading off for holding and it was the Comets heading off to the man advantage.

Boucher had a pair of chances but neither found the back of the net as his one-timer was denied and his next chance was tipped out of play. Juolevi had a shot through traffic that was stopped and smothered and a brief melee broke out. The Comets came up empty and to add insult to injury, Kieffer Bellows broke right back into the Comets zone and beat Sautner wide before taking the puck to the net to beat McIntyre as well. The Tigers were up 4-1.

The goal was the sixth of the season for Bellows, while Aho picked up his 14th assist of the year on the play and Seth Helgeson earned his fifth. It was another late goal, but we would see one more attempt from the Sound Tigers as Jeff Kubiak broke in late only to be denied by McIntyre.

Utica finished the middle frame with a 10-7 advantage on the shot clock.

Your second-period shot map:

The Comets were able to make this game interesting, but it would be too-little-too-late for the home team.

Kyle Burroughs had an early wrister gloved down by McIntyre but the first few minutes of this period were stifled by whistle-after-whistle.

Once play got underway for more than a second or two, Bailey forced a turnover with his feet at the Comets blue line, took the puck up ice and forced another turn over in the offensive zone when the Tigers tried to regain control.

Kole Lind had a chance turned aside as the Comets were applying pressure but couldn’t make anything of it. Sautner unloaded with a shot from the high slot that was firmly aimed at the logo on Coreau’s jersey and the netminder had another save. Baerstchi followed up with a one-timer off the ensuing faceoff win, but once again, Coreau was equal to the task.

We saw some line shuffling as Jasek was now between Baertschi and Boucher.

Sebastian Aho had a point shot scooped up by McIntyre before Bellows was sent off for a cross-check.

The Comets’ first unit went to work with some great puck movement, but they couldn’t get anything through. The second unit took over and Jonah Gadjovich went top cheddar on Coreau for his sixth goal of the season. Goldy grabbed his 15th assist of the season with the set-up, while Carter Camper earned his 14th with the secondary helper. Nice shot, Jonah.

The Sound Tigers came right back as Grant Hutton had a chance redirected but McIntyre was there with the save.

Seamus Malone was yanked off the Baertschi/Boucher line in favour of Jasek, and he found himself bouncing between linemates for a few shifts as he was out with Arseneau and Bancks before finding himself between Lind and Bailey later in the frame.

There was a better pace to the game after the Gadjovich tally and Carter Camper’s line with Goldobin and Perron turned it up a little but Coreau was there to stop Goldy’s chance. At the other end, Bellows took a feed from McDonald and found the crest on the front of McIntyre’s jersey.

The Comets’ fourth line was looking to make something happen when Bancks dropped for Arseneau and BigVinny had his shot turned aside. McIntyre knocked down a Kuhnackl one-timer from point-blank before Bailey had his chance at the other end kicked out as well. Boucher followed up with a shot from the high slot off the rush that was gobbled up by Coreau.

Oliver Wahlstrom was sent off for tripping at the 16:05 mark and the Comets had a power play to help them get back into the game. With time winding down, Trent Cull elected to pull McIntyre and go with a six-on-four setup.

John Stevens already had a pair and couldn’t resist going for the empty netter in his quest for a hatty, but he fired wide.

Carter Camper pulled his team to within a goal at the 17:20 mark with his third of the season and the Comets power play pulled through again. Lukas Jasek picked up his fifth helper of the year on the play and his seventh point in six December games, while Francis Perron earned his 12th.

It was a nice goal from Camper, but the Comets weren’t going to get another to force overtime. Boucher and Baertschi both had late chances shut down and the Sound Tigers skated out of Utica with another win.

The Comets held a 13-5 advantage on the shot clock for the final frame and a 34-23 advantage overall but were unable to pull this one out.

Your third-period shot map:

Power Play: 2/5.

Penalty Kill: 3/4.

PP1: Baertschi, Bailey, Boucher, Lind, Rafferty.

PP2: Camper, Perron, Gadjovich, Goldobin, Juolevi.

Penalty Killers: Jasek, Bancks, Bailey, Boucher, Baertschi, Goldobin, Sautner, Chatfield, Juolevi, Blujus.

3rd Star: Jonah Gadjovich. One goal.

2nd Star: Kieffer Bellows. One goal.

1st Star: John Stevens. Two goals.

3rd Star: Reid Boucher. Boucher picked up his 19th goal of the season, which was also his 75th in a Utica Comets jersey. That ties him with Darren Archibald for most goals all-time for the Comets. Archibald did it in 304 games… Boucher did it in 123. Yeah, Reid is kinda good at scoring goals. Boucher is now up to 32 points in 22 games this season. He led the game today with 7 shots on goal.

2nd Star: Carter Camper. Camper picked up a goal and an assist today and now has 17 points in 19 games this season. Camper has been a nice addition to the team as a playmaker from the middle on a team that doesn’t have a whole lot of that. He has three points in his last two games for the Comets.

1st Star: Jonah Gadjovich/Lukas Jasek. These two are sharing the first-star from me today. Gadjovich hammered home a sweet goal for his sixth of the season and has been bringing a pretty consistent game. The physicality is always there, even if he isn’t blowing guys up the way Arseneau does, but his offensive game has been a nice addition this year as well. Jonah is up to six goals and one helper through his 13 games played this year and if he can keep up the pace that he is on, he will be finishing with a nice second season in the AHL. Jasek, for his part, now has seven points in six December games after having just five through his first two months of the season. He is doing this while playing out of position as a winger in the middle and has taken on a prime role on the team’s penalty kill.

Game #28

Utica Comets at Binghamton Devils

Saturday, December 14th, 2019

7:05 pm Eastern/4:05 pm Pacific