CanucksArmy Utica Comets Post-Game: Comets Win Eighth Straight to Start the Season With 3-1 Win Over Binghamton

Game #8

Binghamton Devils at Utica Comets

Wednesday, October 30th, 2019

7:00 pm Eastern/4:00 pm Pacific

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

95 Justin Bailey – 9 Lukas Jasek – 34 Carter Bancks (C)

24 Reid Boucher (A) – 19 Carter Camper – 77 Nikolay Goldobin (A)

47 Sven Baertschi – 27 Francis Perron – 13 Kole Lind

18 Vincent Arseneau – 17 Seamus Malone – 26 Dyson Stevenson

48 Olli Juolevi – 7 Oscar Fantenberg

55 Guillaume Brisebois – 25 Brogan Rafferty

4 Josh Teves – 5 Jalen Chatfield

31 Zane McIntyre

64 Mikey DiPietro (backing up)

The opening frame had a pretty good pace to it, but neither team would find the back of the net. Lukas Jasek hit Carter Bancks with a nice feed early for a shot that was kicked out by Devils netminder Evan Cormier. Justin Bailey came back with a followup chance and he too was denied.

Brogan Rafferty has been having a fine rookie campaign so far and you can see his confidence growing with each game. The rookie came up with a smart pinch early to keep the puck in the offensive zone.

The Comets were applying the pressure early on in this one.

Oscar Fantenberg was seeing his first action of the season as he’s been injured since training camp. He was paired with Olli Juoevi and the defender let fly with a shot that was redirected by Vinny Arseneau. Cormier was ready with the save.

That was when Dyson Stevenson and Brandon Baddock decided to throw down for a quick tilt. I’m giving this one to Stevenson as he got the takedown. Both men were sent off for fighting and we stayed at five aside hockey.

Guillaume Brisebois tried his luck with a shot through traffic that Cormier got a shoulder on before Carter Bancks got on his horse to break up a play in the defensive zone.

Reid Boucher soon found himself with another chance but Cormier said no.

At the other end, Juolevi used a smart stick to break up a two-on-one play while his partner Fantenberg was throwing his weight around with a heavy hit along the boards.

We had some back and forth before Luc Snuggerud had his shot kicked out by McIntyre and the Comets went the other way. Fantenberg had a shot denied before Goldobin hit Camper in the left circle for a shot that was gloved down by Cormier.

McIntyre made a pair of easy saves at the other end before Bancks forced a turnover, leading to a Justin Bailey chance, but the speedy winger couldn’t get his shot away.

The Comets found themselves shorthanded when Dyson Stevenson was dinged for delay of game after putting the puck out of play.

We saw penalty-killing units of Seamus Malone with Reid Boucher, Olli Juolevi, and Fantenberg before Brisebois, Chatfield, Jasek, and Perron took over. The Comets killers were doing great work to keep the Devils to the outside. McIntyre shut down a Colton White offering through traffic and the Comets had a good kill.

At the other end, Fantenberg had a shot tipped wide by Boucher before the Devils went the other way and Arseneau dished a solid hit on Brett Seney. BigVinny wasn’t the only one hitting as Josh Teves came up with a board shaker on a pinch play.

The Devils thought they had opened the scoring when Micahel McLeod rushed the net and pushed the puck and the goalie in. The officials reviewed the play and it was determined that there was no goal.

Fantenberg used a nifty push play to calmly move the puck to Juolevi for a zone exit in the late going before Rafferty lost the puck on the next shift. Thankfully, Joey Anderson fired his shot over the net.

Sven Baertschi used a solid hit to separate his man from the puck in the defensive zone and time ran off the clock to end the period. Utica finished with an 8-6 advantage on the shot clock for the opening frame.

Your first-period shot map:

The middle frame some more of that decent pace and we had a goal scored for the good guys to boot.

Justin Bailey has wheels for days and he used those to get in on the forecheck to make a play, but his linemates weren’t able to keep up to him to be on the receiving end of it.

Guillaume Brisebois managed to get a shot away, but Cormier was ready with another save. Vinny Arseneau followed up with a chance of his own that was denied as well.

The Comets fourth line was doing great work in this one and Stevenson was looking to get them on the scoreboard when he dished to a rushing Seamus Malone from behind the net. Malone, unfortunately, overskated the pass and wasn’t able to make anything happen.

The Carter Camper line was up next and Goldobin tried to set his pivot up with a slick feed in the high slot, but Cormier kicked out the Camper offering.

At the other end, Dakota Mermis had a chance denied from in close by McIntyre before Olli Juolevi did what he is quickly becoming known for… the stretch pass. Juolevi hit Baertschi from distance and Sven let fly with a shot off the pads of Cormier right to Frankie Perron for his second goal of the season. Baertschi grabbed his eighth helper of the year on the play, while Juolevi earned his fifth.

The Comets kept it coming as Cormier had to glove down a Seamus Malone offering and held for the whistle.

In the Comets end, Juolevi wasn’t just dishing the stretch passes, he was also using a solid shoulder to rub his man off the puck and help force a turnover in the Comets favour.

Zane McIntyre wasn’t overly busy, but he was sharp to track down a wrister through traffic and he held for the whistle.

Dyson Stevenson had already gone for a canoe ride in the opening frame with Brandon Baddock, but he wasn’t done dishing out the bruises as he lit up a Devils player in front of the Comets bench. Oscar Fantenberg followed suit with a board shaker of his own.

Juolevi was dinged for hooking at the 10:56 mark and the Comets had another penalty to kill. This time we saw Chatfield, Brisebois, Bancks, and Jasek kick things off before Bailey and Boucher replaced the forwards.

Joe Morrow got a point shot through traffic, but McIntyre was ready with the save. Egor Sharangovich let fly with a chance from the left circle that was swallowed up by McIntyre before Malone and Bancks closed this one out with Fantenberg and Brisebois. Malone had a shorthanded chance denied and the kill was good.

Mermis tried to get his team back into this one with another point shot that was gobbled up before McIntyre gloved down a weak backhander and held for a line change. The Comets netminder scooped up the next shot that came his way as well after it was tipped.

Brogan Rafferty had a solid shift in the late going that looked like it could lead to a goal, but the puck ended up going back the other way and Kole Lind did great work on the backcheck to stifle the play.

The Comets finished the period with more pressure as Jalen Chatfield let fly with a shot that was tipped high by Boucher as the period wound down.

Utica finished the middle frame up 1-0 on the scoreboard and had outshot the Devils 10-7 for the period.

Your second-period shot map:

McIntyre was a little busier in the final frame, but he proved strong enough to bring the win home. He gloved down an early chance from Brett Seney, but Seney would be back for more later on.

The Carter Camper line followed up with some nice pressure, but Cormier was ready for the Boucher chance that eventually came his way. Chatfield came with a chance of his own, but Cormier whipped out the blocker for another save.

After some back and forth the Comets got some great pressure from the Perron line along with Brogan Rafferty and Guillaume Brisebois. That pressure paid dividends when Rafferty sent a sweet cross-crease pass to Lind and the second-year forward made no mistake for his third of the season. Rafferty grabbed his fourth helper of the year on the play, while Francis Perron picked up his sixth.

The Devils nearly got that one right back but McIntyre was there with another save… along with another on an odd-man rush to keep his team up by a pair.

Play slowed down a little for a shift or two after that goal until Baertschi fed Jasek for a chance that Cormier turned aside. The Devils poured it on and pulled to within a goal. Brett Seney pulled the trigger on his sixth goal of the year, while this one was set up by Ben Street’s seventh helper of the season.

Guillaume Brisebois was looking to get that one right back but his one-timer was kicked out, as was the Reid Boucher followup opportunity. Lanes started to get clogged up in this game as neither team wanted to make the next mistake.

The Devils started to press and McIntyre had to make a blocker save before denying the Brandon Baddock followup and the rebound that came next. McIntyre was good once again.

It was the Comets turn to press as Brisebois got a shot through traffic that was denied before Fantenberg came up with a nice play at the other end to break up a chance. He sent Carter Bancks the other way and joined him on the rush, but Cormier was there with another save.

Ryan Schmelzer tried his luck with a clapper that McIntyre kicked out before the Comets netminder whipped out the mitt and flashed the leather to stymie a Chris Cormier chance from all alone in front. The saves didn’t stop there as he kicked aside another shot from the high slot before freezing the rebound chance that came after.

Carter Bancks was dinged for slashing at the 15:31 mark and the Comets would have to kill off a penalty late in the game with a one-goal lead… oh, and one of their better penalty killers was the man in the box.

McIntyre started things off by gloving down a Ben Street offering, but that was the best the Devils could do as groups including Juolevi, Fantenberg, Jasek, Boucher, Bailey, Malone, Chatfield, and Brisebois killed this one off. Brisebois came up with a big shot block to finish this kill off.

Egor Sharangovich didn’t care that his power play was over, he was still looking to grab a goal to even this one up. He let fly with a shot that McIntyre turned aside before Reid Boucher scored his 10th of the season to put the Comets up 3-1.

Although he didn’t get credited with an assist, Lukas Jasek helped make this one happen when he pressured the defender into coughing the puck up to Reid and the Comets’ sniper did the rest.

The Devils pulled their goaltender with roughly 1:50 remaining on the clock and Zane McIntyre tried to rub a little salt in the wounds when he went for an empty-net goal. He put his shot wide of the target.

Bingo would call their timeout with 56 seconds left, but their attempt to get back into this game was futile. The Comets held on for a 3-1 win after the Devils outshot them 12-10 in the final frame. Utica held a 28-25 advantage for the game and came away with the win.

Your third-period shot map:

Power play: 0/3

Penalty kill: 0/0

Penalty Killers: Carter Bancks, Reid Boucher, Lukas Jasek, Francis Perron, Justin Bailey, Seamus Malone, Jalen Chatfield, Olli Juolevi, Oscar Fantenberg, Guillaume Brisebois.

3rd Star: Reid Boucher. One goal.

2nd Star: Francis Perron. One goal, one assist.

1st Star: Kole Lind. One goal, game-winner.

3rd Star: Brogan Rafferty: Rafferty picked up a pretty sweet assist on the game-winning goal today, and that pass was indeed a sweet one, but he has also been holding the fort in his own end this year. Paired with Guillaume Brisebois from the start of the season, Rafferty has shown well in his rookie campaign. Although he has had a few miscues this year, he has also done great work defensively, while keeping pace with Olli Juolevi for the Comets’ rookie scoring lead. Rafferty plays a well-rounded game and looks like another potential undrafted gem for the Canucks amateur scouting staff.

2nd Star: Zane McIntyre: McIntyre has brought a level of stability to the Comets crease that was missing for much of last season. He calms things for a young blueline crew and at times handles the puck like a third defender. He even tried his luck with an empty-net goal tonight bit put his offering wide of the target. McIntyre stopped 24 of 25 for the win tonight and is now 5/0 on the season. His goals-against-average is sitting at 1.78 and he is rocking a 0.944% save percentage. That type of netminding will give a team a chance to win most games.

1st Star: Francis Perron: I am quickly becoming a fan of the trade that brought Francis Perron to the Canucks organization. He cost next to nothing to acquire and has put up eight points in six games this year while playing out of position in Utica. The fact that the natural winger is doing this from the middle when he has traditionally been an LW is big for a team that is thin down the middle. Perron is a crafty playmaker with a nice shot to go along with that playmaking ability. The coaching staff has started to work him into penalty-killing duties as well, which will only help his defensive game grow. Perron is one to keep an eye on this season in Utica.

Game #9

Providence Bruins at Utica Comets

Friday, November 1st, 2019

7:00 pm Eastern/4:00 pm Pacific