CanucksArmy Utica Comets Post-Game: Comets Drop Devils 3-1, Boucher Picks Up 22nd Goal Of Season

The 16th place Utica Comets rolled into Binghamton today to take on the 30th ranked Devils. The Comets had accumulated 49 points this season to the Devils 31.

The Comets came into the day with the league’s seventh-ranked power-play, operating at 19.8%, and the league’s sixth-best penalty-kill with an 85.6% rate of effectiveness. The Devils had the 17th best power-play, converting on 16% of their chances with the extra man, while their penalty-kill sat 14th with an 83.1 % effective rate.

Reid Boucher was the Comets points leader with 38. He has now matched his AHL career high for points. Philip Holm was the Comets points leader from the backend with 22 in 36 games. Zack MacEwen was the rookie points leader for the Comets with 22 points in his first 38 games.

Defenseman Jacob MacDonald led the Devils backend, as well as the team with 30 points in 40 games. Nick Lappin led the Devils forwards with 26 points in 35 games. Nathan Bastain led all Devils rookies with 12 points in 34 games.

The Devils had gone 2-6-1-1 over their previous 10 games, while the Comets had gone 7-1-2-0 over the same span. The Comets were coming off of a 4-3 overtime loss to Hartford, while the Devils last played to a 3-0 loss to Toronto.

The Comets came into the game with a road record of 12-5-3-1, while the Devils had a home record of 6-12-3-0. The Comets had outscored their opponents 124-123 coming into today, while the Devils had been outscored by a 140-101 margin.

The two clubs had already played each other three times this season. Each team had a 2-1 victory to their credit, while the Comets also had a 3-2 overtime win.

As mentioned above, Reid Boucher has now equalled his career high for points in the AHL. His 21 goals and 17 assists had him sitting seventh overall in the AHL points race. He also sat tied for first in the league with 21 goals, second with 131 shots on goal, second with four shootout goals on five chances, and had scored four goals in his previous three games.

Thatcher Demko was tied for fourth in the league with 16 wins, second with 855 saves, fifth with a 0.929 save percentage, tied for first with four wins in the shootout, and third in minutes played with 1711:24.

The Comets are starting to get healthy, which in turn means that their roster will require some adjustment. Well, the Comets made three such adjustments yesterday and one more today.

First, it was Danny Moynihan heading back to Kalamazoo, next up it would be Vincent Arseneau and Brady Brassart having their PTO deals terminated, and finally, today, goaltender Mitch Gillam also had his brief PTO deal ended. The good news is that the Comets would have Joe LaBate, Alexis D’Aoust, and Jaime Sifers at their disposal today and Thatcher Demko was feeling well enough to back up Richard Bachman.

 

 

Scratched today for the Comets were: Carter Bancks, (injured), Yan-Pavel Laplante, (injured), Jayson Megna, (injured), Griffen Molino, (injured), Evan McEneny, (injured), Tony Cameranesi, Andrew Cherniwchan, David Dziurzynski, and Jalen Chatfield.

16 Joe LaBate – 21 Michael Chaput – 15 Zack MacEwen

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

24 Reid Boucher (A) – 11 Cam Darcy – 77 Nikolay Goldobin

44 Adam Comrie – 36 Wacey Hamilton (A) – 17 Alexis D’Aoust

28 Patrick Wiercioch – 55 Guillaume Brisebois

52 Philip Holm – 26 Jaime Sifers (A)

6 Ashton Sautner – 8 Dylan Blujus

32 Richard Bachman

This period was not one of end-to-end action. The Comets did get things started with a Reid Boucher set up to Nikolay Goldobin, whose shot was turned aside by Devils netminder Mackenzie Blackwood.

Goldobin followed that chance up by taking a Cam Darcy pass and getting a tricky shot off, but he heard it ring iron.

Rookie blue-liner, Guillaume Brisebois turned a puck over which led to a Kevin Rooney break, but Richard Bachman bailed Brisebois out and made the save.

Darren Archibald had a shot tipped wide. The Cassels, Archibald, Carcone line was not showing their usual physical game in the opening frame.

Goldobin is proving to be quite the set-up man, dishing a nice pass back to the point for Philip Holm, whose shot was turned aside by Blackwood.

Alexis D’Aoust was back in the lineup and he was getting his feet back under him. He did manage a decent wrist shot from just inside the Devils’ blue-line but saw it gloved down by Blackwood.

Dylan Blujus made a nice defensive play, hustling back to break up a scoring chance. Blujus continues to play well for the Comets.

Ryan Penny had a golden chance to open the scoring when he found himself all alone in the slot, letting fly with a shot that Bachman swallowed up for a whistle.

Nick Lappin was next with a nice chance, getting a shot away, only to see Bachman flash the leather for the save.

The Goldobin, Darcy, Boucher line had a rough shift, finding themselves hemmed in their own end for nearly their entire shift. We would hear from two of those three before the period would end.

Ashton Sautner continues to get shots through, sending one on the net, but Blackwood was ready with another save.

Wacey Hamilton sent the Comets to the penalty-kill at the 9:10 mark when he was sent off for tripping. Bachman had to make one big save on a point shot blast and the Comets would kill the Hamilton minor.

Brisebois got a nice wrist shot away but saw it blocked before it got to the net.

Bachman was doing his best to keep his team in the game, turning aside another point shot.

Reid Boucher opened the scoring at the 16:40 mark, picking up his league-leading 22nd goal of the season on a nice backhander. Nikolay Goldobin earned his 20th assist of the season on the play, while Patrick Wiercioch picked up his 11th.

Bachman would make a pair of nice saves, first off of the stick of Blake Pietila, and then on John Quenneville, who had a point-blank chance turned aside.

Reid Boucher would be whistled for high-sticking at the 19:17 mark and the Comets would finish the period shorthanded.

The shot clock for the first period favoured the Devils by a count of 11-9.

The Comets started the middle frame on the penalty-kill and Darren Archibald did some excellent work to kill this one off. The big fella is more than just big, heavy hits, (but he has those in spades).

As the penalty wound down, Archibald stepped over the Devils’ blue-line and unloaded with a shot that was quickly gobbled up by Blackwood.

Michael Kapla was whistled for a cross-check at the 2:53 mark and the Comets would get their first power-play of the day.

Michael Carcone would get a backhander away in a scramble and the second-year pro would pick up his 10th goal of the season. Carcone scored just five goals all of last season and has now doubled that total, as well as tying his career high in points with 18. Darren Archibald grabbed his sixth helper of the year on the play, while Michael Chaput picked up his eighth.

Roughly half a minute after the Carcone goal, Viktor Loov was sent off for slashing. Reid Boucher and Nikolay Goldobin each had nice chances turned aside, but the Comets would be unable to extend their lead.

Nikolay Goldobin was whistled for slashing at the 6:29 mark after taking a swipe at Kevin Rooney when Rooney clipped him at centre-ice. The Goldobin penalty kicked off a parade to the box as John Quenneville was sent off for tripping at the 7:35 mark. The Quenneville penalty was followed up by Zack MacEwen and Michael Kapla taking coincidental minors at the 9:52 mark.

Neither team would do much of note in the four-on-four time, in fact, the Devils had just two shots on net on the entire period of hockey.

Patrick Wiercioch unloaded a hot shot on net, late in the period with Goldobin and Darcy waiting to bang in some garbage, but Blackwood made the save and held on for the whistle.

The period ended with Archibald and Carcone getting a chance. The two broke in with Archibald sending a pass to Carcone, who got a nice shot off, but once again, Blackwood was equal to the task.

The period finished with the Comets showing a staggering 16-2 advantage on the shot clock.

The third period started off with Michael Chaput getting an early scoring chance, but once again, Blackwood was ready with the save.

Kevin Rooney would give the Comets another chance on the power-play at the 1:08 mark when he was sent off for holding.

Goldobin got a nice shot away, but Blackwood made the save. Carcone had a nice one-timer shot, but it was blocked before it could get through. The Devils would come up with a good kill.

Patrick Wiercioch continues to fire from the blue-line. The big, lanky defenseman let fly with a high, hard shot, but it was blocked on the way through.

Bracken Kearns unloaded a hot shot, but Bachman blockered it away. Unfortunately, Kearns would soon be sent in on a breakaway and he would make no mistake, burying the puck behind Bachman to pull the Devils to within one, and with plenty of time to get another. The goal was Kearns’ ninth of the season. Jacob MacDonald earned the lone assist, his 19th of the season.

Ben Thomson came looking for more, sending a wrist shot on net, but Bachman made the save and held on to get a line change for his teammates.

The Devils were starting to come on as this period continued.

Darren Archibald was showing his defensive side, coming up with a timely shot-block. Speaking of blocking shots, I am convinced that Dylan Blujus is the second coming of Craig Ludwig. This guy is quite adept at the art of the blocked shot.

Cole Cassels and Kevin Rooney got into it at the side of the Utica net, culminating with Cassels dropping Rooney with a “Rock Bottom” that would make Dwayne Johnson proud. Cassels and Rooney would each get two minutes for roughing, but Cassels would get an extra two for holding.

Michael Kapla kept the Devils attack coming, sending another shot at Bachman, and once again, the netminder held on for the whistle. Bachman was doing a good job of controlling his rebounds in this one. The Comets would come up with a big kill as the Devils were picking up their pace.

Reid Boucher took a stick up high in his own end, right in front of the official, and Reid tried to sell it, but the ref wasn’t buying. Boucher was jawing at the ref all the way back to his bench.

Wacey Hamilton nearly put the Comets up by a pair as he found a seam and went in unmolested, getting a good backhander away, but Blackwood denied him.

As the going got late, the Devils were getting their chances. Bachman was forced into a big save through traffic, followed up by a mad scramble in the Comets crease before the puck was cleared away to safety.

MacKenzie Blackwood was summoned to the bench for the extra attacker with 1:20 left in the period and Darren Archibald would put this one away at the 18:53 mark with an empty net goal. It was Archibald’s seventh goal of the season. Michael Chaput picked up his ninth helper of the year on the play, while Wacey Hamilton earned his fifth.

That was it in Binghamton. The third period saw the Comets get outshot 10-4, but they had a 29-23 shot advantage for the game.

The Three Stars in the building today were:

3rd Star: Bracken Kearns. One goal.

2nd Star: Michael Carcone. One goal.

1st Star: Reid Boucher. One goal.

3rd Star: Michael Chaput. Chaput picked up a pair of assists today and now has nine goals and nine helpers for 18 points in 25 games. Chaput is not a fan favourite in Vancouver, mostly due to how the former coach deployed him, however, he is a very valuable piece of the puzzle in Utica.

2nd Star: Reid Boucher. Boucher picked up goal number 22 today and briefly held sole possession of the AHL goal-scoring lead. He has now bested his AHL single-season career high for points with his 39th today, and he is just one goal back of Darren Archibald’s single-season Comets’ goals record of 23 set last season.

1st Star: Darren Archibald. Archibald picked up a goal and an assist today to give him seven goals and six assists, for 13 points in 22 games. Archibald plays a physical game and makes no apologies for it. He has accumulated a surprisingly low number of penalty minutes this season, with only 15 showing in the PIM column. For a guy who blows up opposing players on the regular, I find that to be fairly impressive.