CanucksArmy Utica Comets Post-Game: The Comets Came Out Flat But a Second Period Goal From Justin Bailey Paved The Way For a 3-2 Come-From-Behind Win Over Belleville

Game #37

Utica Comets at Belleville Senators

Wednesday, January 8th, 2020

7:00 pm Eastern/4:00 pm Pacific

 

(1st forward line/defence pair listed started the game. The remainder are in no particular order)

47 Sven Baertschi – 36 Wacey Hamilton (A) – 24 Reid Boucher (A)

77 Nikolay Goldobin – 13 Kole Lind – 95 Justin Bailey

21 Jonah Gadjovich – 34 Carter Bancks (C) – 11 David Pope

3 Stefan LeBlanc – 9 Lukas Jasek – 74 Tanner Sorenson

 6 Ashton Sautner – 25 Brogan Rafferty

48 Olli Juolevi – 5 Jalen Chatfield

55 Guillaume Brisebois – 8 Dylan Blujus

31 Zane McIntyre

64 Mikey DiPietro (backing up)

Well, this was an interesting start for the Comets. They finished the period down 1-0 and we saw Kole Lind start his first game in the middle as a pro. I like Kole better on the wing… as I do Lukas Jasek and Francis Perron, who have also been used out of position as wingers in the middle.

Maybe the organization can do something to acquire a pivot or two?

This was all Belleville in the opening frame, but there were not a ton of offensive opportunities from either team in the early going.

We had some back and forth before the Comets were dinged for having too many men on the ice at the 2:28 mark. The Comets killers did a great job of not giving the Sens much to work with and they came up with a good kill.

The Sens kept the pressure on as Zane McIntyre got a glove on a shot through traffic before steering the puck out of harm’s way as it glided through his crease on a followup play.

At the other end of the ice, Guillaume Brisebois sent the puck along the blue line to Dylan Blujus for a shot that went off the side of the net before being smothered by Sens’ goaltender Joey Daccord for a whistle. The Sens kept the pressure on, but there wasn’t a whole lot going on from either side.

Sven Baertschi used a stiff hit to take his man off the puck at the Comets’ blue line before he sent Boucher out with a pass. Sven hasn’t been shying away from the physical going in Utica.

The Sens came back in and McIntyre had to come up with a save in close while Lukas Jasek did nice work on the backcheck to help break up a play without taking a penalty. Jalen Chatfield, however, did take a penalty soon after and the Comets had another kill to get through.

Dylan Blujus and Ashton Sautner both came up with nice shot blocks before McIntyre stymied a stuff play from the side of the net. The Comets netminder wouldn’t stop all of the shots that he faced on this kill, however, as Josh Norris buried a one-timer on a cross-ice feed from Logan Brown for his 20th goal of the season. Brown grabbed his ninth helper of the year on the play, while Erik Brannstrom earned his eighth. You can see why Norris is the AHL rookie leader for points.

The Sens kept their foot on the go pedal as former Comets forward Michael Carcone sent Brown in for a chance that McIntyre turned aside before Carcone tried his luck with a chance of his own on an odd-man rush. McIntyre said no to him as well.

Alex Formenton came back with another shot that McIntyre juggled but kept out and Jalen Chatfield helped his netminder out with a timely block as the Sens continued to push.

The Comets got a solid shift from the Bancks unit as Gadjovich set his captain up for a chance in close that Daccord was wise to before the Sens’ goaltender gloved down the Ashton Sautner shot that followed.

McIntyre would shut down another chance from Brown before Juolevi finished up with a shot that Daccord kicked aside. The Comets finished the opening frame down 1-0 on the scoreboard and 12-7 on the shot clock.

The Comets looked lifeless in the opening frame and it took quite a while into the second before they showed much life.

They had some early zone time in the Sens’ end but Belleville stormed back and Norris fired a shot wide of McIntyre’s net. The rookie sniper followed up with another that went off the target before Alex Formenton was dinged for hooking.

The Comets started off with a unit consisting of Jasek, Goldobin, Gadjovich, Sautner, and Juolevi and the Sens got a pair of shorthanded breaks without getting a shot away. The Comets replaced that first group with Bailey, Boucher, Baertschi, Lind, and Rafferty and we saw former Comets forward Joe LaBate fire a shorthanded chance wide. The Comets power play came up empty.

The penalties continued as this time it was David Pope heading off for tripping. Pope was playing his first game for the Comets after coming over in a trade for Alex Biega to start the season.

Filip Chlapik took a stick up high that went uncalled and he left the ice for repairs. He would return for the Sens later in the period. Justin Bailey has done some solid work on the Comets kill this year and he came up with a clear and the team came up with a good kill.

McIntyre made a stick save on a long shot before Formenton was whistled for a high-stick and the Comets were back to the power play. The first unit couldn’t make anything happen before being replaced by the second and Goldy quickly took a hooking penalty to take his team off the man advantage.

With the teams playing at four aside for roughly 30 seconds. Carcone wheeled through, well… pretty much everyone before getting a shot away that McIntyre gobbled up. When the Sens’ power play kicked in, McIntyre gloved down a Norris offering from the right circle and the Comets did great work to come away from this kill unscathed.

However, Dylan Blujus was sent off for slashing and the Comets were back to the kill and this time the Sens would make them pay. Josh Norris let fly with a shot that saw his stick explode, but the puck landed right where Alex Formenton needed it to for him to bury his 16th of the season. Norris grabbed his 14th helper of the year on the play, while Logan Brown earned his 10th.

The Comets had only had one shot on goal to this point in the period, so it was time to wake up. Jalen Chatfield came up with a good stick to break up a Sens’ play in the Comets end before Rafferty tried his luck with a chance off the rush that he put wide.

Utica kept the pressure on as they finally had some momentum. Daccord had to shut down a shot from the slot from Bancks after Gadjovich did great work in the corner before feeding him for his chance.

The Comets kept the pressure on as Kole Lind helped break the puck out of the Comets end and Brogan Rafferty and Justin Bailey did the rest on a two-on-one to pull the Comets to within a goal. Rafferty played set up man for his 26th helper of the year, while Bailey was the trigger man for his 13th goal of the season. Lind earned his 20th helper of the year as well.

Filip Chlapik came right back with a shot that McIntyre made a solid stop on, but that Bailey goal was like a giant whiff of smelling salts for the Comets as they started to show some real life for the first time in the game.

Jonathan Davidsson was dinged for a faceoff infraction and he was sent off for two minutes. This game was something else on that side of things as the officials were imposing their will in the faceoff circle, throwing guys out left and right.

The Comets started out with PP1 and Lind had a chance denied before the second unit took over and Brisebois set Gadjovich up for a jam play at the side of the net. Daccord proved equal to the task. The Comets power play came up empty once again.

The Comets had some late pressure but went into the final frame down a goal. The Sens showed a 10-7 advantage on the shot clock for the middle frame.

The Sens had some early pressure and Utica had a tough time getting past the neutral zone, but they were digging in to try. Carter Bancks and David Pope tried to hook up on an early play in close, but Daccord was there with the save.

At the other end, McIntyre shut down another attempt from Chlapik before Goldobin’s weak attempt to keep the puck in the offensive zone sent the Sens the other way. Goldy would make up for that lazy play later in the period… twice.

The play went back and forth as Bailey had a chance redirected wide of the net by Lind at one end before the Comets found themselves hemmed in their end for a shift at the other.

Jonah Gadjovich plays a rough and tumble brand of hockey, and as such, he can sometimes become the target of players on the other team. That was the case when he was decked with a solid hit behind the Sens’ net and his captain took exception. Bancks threw down for a brief tilt with Hubert Labrie and both men were sent off for fighting. Gadjovich was fine and stayed in the game.

We only saw 17 seconds of four aside action as Jonathan Aspirot was sent off for a high-stick and the Comets were off to a power play.

The first unit kicked things off again and Lind fired an attempt wide with a yawning cage staring him down. Rafferty followed up with a chance that Daccord gloved down before Lind tipped Rafferty’s next offering wide of the net.

The second unit saw a new face as Brisebois took Sautner’s spot and we saw his redirected shot denied by Daccord. No matter, as Goldy soon knotted the game at two.

Olli Juolevi teed up a shot in the right circle for Goldobin and the enigmatic winger made no mistake. The goal was Goldobin’s 12th of the season, while Olli earned his 13th helper of the year. Lukas Jasek picked up his eighth assist of the year on the play as well.

 

The Goldobin tally came just after Aspirot exited the box, so it was an even-strength marker.

The Comets weren’t sitting back as Boucher hammered a shot off the iron and Chatfield had a shot through traffic gloved down.

Goldobin buried his second of the game and 13th of the season two minutes after his first of the game to put the Comets up 3-2. Once again, Brogan Rafferty did nice work to set this goal up for his 27th helper of the season for the lone assist.

Goldy took a slash on the hand before the goal was scored and he saw some attention on the bench, but he was able to stay in the game.

The Sens showed some signs of life after the second Goldobin goal, but they couldn’t get any traction, even as McIntyre lost his stick while trying to play the puck and the Comets were able to clear the zone before any harm was done.

Guillaume Brisebois was having a pretty nice season up until the last two games where the wheels seemed to come off the wagon for him. He was looking a little more like his old self today and came up with a timely play to break up a Logan Brown attempt. Justin Bailey went the other way and used his combination of size and speed, along with a few moves to break out of the Comets’ end before getting a shot away that Daccord kicked aside with a quick leg.

Baertschi and Boucher hooked up for a chance that Daccord shut down with a good old fashioned poke check before the Sens netminder was summoned to the bench for the extra attacker. Belleville would call their timeout 10 seconds later.

Daccord stayed on the bench and the Sens went to work. Alex Formenton let fly with a shot that McIntyre got a glove on as the Sens put the pressure on. Logan Brown unloaded with a heavy shot and McIntyre crushed his dreams with a flash of the leather and the horn sounded soon after to signal the Comets first win of 2020.

Utica finished the final frame up 13-5 on the shot clock, but the teams were tied at 27 apiece for the game.

Power Play: 0/4.

Penalty Kill: 3/5.

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

PP2: Jasek, Gadjovich, Goldobin, Juolevi, Sautner.

PP3: Gadjovich, Jasek, Goldobin, Juolevi, Brisebois.

Penalty Killers: Bancks, Hamilton, Jasek, Boucher, Baerstchi, Bailey, Brisebois, Sautner, Blujus, Chatfield, Juolevi.

3rd Star: Josh Norris. One goal, one assist.

2nd Star: Brogan Rafferty. Two assists.

1st Star: Nikolay Goldobin. Two goals.

3rd Star: Nikolay Goldobin. Goldy probably would have got my first star if not for his ill-timed penalty and indifferent play. He was floating at times today and coughed up a puck for a chance against, but he also scored two goals to give his team the win. That seems to be what we get with Goldobin. He can drive you nuts one minute and have you cheering the next. At the end of the day, he is now up to 13 goals and 17 assists to give himself 30 points in 31 games this season.

2nd Star: Justin Bailey. Trent Cull sat Bailey as his extra veteran last game and Bailey did his best to make sure his coach calls someone else’s number next time. Bailey scored his 13th of the year today and is up to 24 points in 36 games this year. Before his veteran scratch last game, Bailey had played in every Comets game this year. Rafferty and Lind are the last two Comets to suit up for every game this year.

1st Star: Brogan Rafferty. Rafferty gathers his apples by the bushel and he picked up two more helpers today to bring his season totals to five goals and 27 assists, giving him 32 points in 37 games this season. That has him just two points behind AHL rookie leader Josh Norris. Rafferty’s 32 points are four better than his closest competitor as far as AHL defenders go. Former Canucks defender Derrick Pouliot sits second with 28. Brogan is now on pace for a 66 point season in his rookie campaign… seems good, no?

Game #38

Lehigh Valley Phantoms at Utica Comets

Friday, January, 10th, 2020

7:00 pm Eastern/4:00 pm Pacific