CanucksArmy Utica Comets Post-Game: The Comets Fall 5-4 in Back and Forth Game That Ended in Overtime

Game #17

Binghamton Devils at Utica Comets

Wednesday, November 20th, 2019

7:00 pm Eastern/4:00 pm Pacific

 27 Francis Perron – 9 Lukas Jasek – 34 Carter Bancks (C)

77 Nikolay Goldobin – 36 Wacey Hamilton (A) – 24 Reid Boucher (A)

95 Justin Bailey – 19 Carter Camper – 13 Kole Lind

18 Vincent Arseneau – 14 Justin Taylor – 26 Dyson Stevenson

55 Guillaume Brisebois – 25 Brogan Rafferty

6 Ashton Sautner – 5 Jalen Chatfield

4 Josh Teves – 8 Dylan Blujus

64 Mikey DiPietro

31 Zane McIntyre (backing up)

The opening frame had a pretty good pace to it as these two clubs clearly came to play.

The scoring started early when Frankie Perron tipped a Brogan Rafferty offering past Gilles Senn just 23 seconds into the game and the Comets were up 1-0. The goal was the third of the season for Perron, while rookie defender Brogan Rafferty picked up his eighth helper of the year on the play and his defence partner Guillaume Brisebois earned his fourth.

Unfortunately… the Devils answered right back after Reid Boucher coughed up the puck and Brett Seney made him feel shame, beating DiPietro for his 10th goal of the season. The goal was unassisted.

The Devils kept it coming as Brisebois had to make a diving play to break up a chance by the visitors before the teams settled into a bit of back and forth for a couple of shifts.

Dyson Stevenson was likely destined for Kalamazoo to start this season, but he is turning into a useful energy player in Utica. The gritty forward dished out a solid hit in the neutral zone that forced a turnover in the Comets favour. Stevenson and BigVinny both happened to be playing in their 300th pro games tonight. Congrats, fellas.

The Devils came looking for a go-ahead goal with an odd-man rush that ended with a shot going wide before Dakota Mermis let fly with a point shot that DiPietro was ready for. Ryan Schmelzer came right back with another shot that Mikey D turned aside with the wave of his blocker.

At the other end, Dylan Blujus uncorked a shot that was gloved down by Senn before the Devils netminder did the same with a Jalen Chatfield offering. Ben Street went the other way with a shot off the rush that DiPietro shut down with a flash of the leather.

Brogan Rafferty has been having a great rookie season so far and he unloaded with a shot that rang the iron behind Senny before the Devils went the other way. Jalen Chatfield used his wheels to track down Ben Street before running him into the boards and off the puck.

DiPietro kicked out a long shot before gloving down a Josh Jacobs chance from the right side. At the other end, Justin Taylor did good work to force a turnover, but his shot was knocked down before it got to the net.

Vincent Arseneau followed up with a solid hit before Justin Bailey had a pass picked off by Brandon Baddock and DiPietro had to be sharp with a quick save.

Kole Lind and Michael McLeod got a little scrummy along the boards and both men would be sent off for roughing. McLeod was given an extra two after Lind was popped in the mumbles.

The Comets rolled out Perron, Goldy, Boucher, Bailey, and Rafferty. Goldy made quick work of this one after burying a Rafferty feed. The goal was TrickyNicky’s fifth of the season, while Rafferty grabbed his ninth helper of the year on the play.

It was nice to get that go-ahead goal, but the Comets were playing some sloppy hockey as DiPietro had to come up with a scrambling save when Justin Taylor coughed up the puck to Fabian Zetterlund.

The Devils continued to press but the Comets managed to clear the zone.

We saw Kole Lind get clobbered in the offensive zone with a big hit but the young winger was back up and shaking the hit off.

We had some back and forth before Ryan Schmelzer unloaded with a shot that DiPietro steered aside with his blocker before Justin Bailey was dinged for interference.

The Comets rolled out Bancks, Hamilton, Sautner, and Chatfield to start things off before Jasek, Brisebois, and Blujus were cycled in. Boucher soon joined in place of Jasek and he and Hamilton found themselves with a shorthanded chance. Wacey, unfortunately, was not able to take the pass from Reid and that was it for the play but the Comets came up with a good kill.

There was some back and forth in the late going and the Comets pressed but were unable to go ahead by a pair. The Devils showed a 10-8 advantage on the shot clock for the opening frame.

Your first-period shot map:

Both teams came looking for a goal quickly as Michael McLeod had a chance foiled by a defender at one end and Senn came up with a stop on Lukas Jasek at the other before Luc Snuggarud was dinged for delay of game. It was off to an early power play for Utica.

We saw Bailey, Boucher, Goldy, Rafferty, and Lind come out to start things off and Senn came up with a stop on Lind early on. Brogan Rafferty showed some confidence in his game with a nifty feed to Goldy that didn’t end up going much further. Boucher and Rafferty were each denied of a goal before Arseneau, Brisebois, Perron, Camper, and Jasek took over. Brisebois had a shot kicked aside and the Comets came up empty.

Nathan Bastian had a chance denied by DiPietro from the side of the net before Senn shut down a Goldobin/Boucher chance at the other. Boucher took a feed in close from Jasek but Senn was ready with yet another stop.

Not long after, Brett Seney took advantage of a scramble in the Comets crease to score his second of the game and 11th of the season. Joey Anderson earned his ninth helper of the year on the play.

The Comets pressed to get that one right back as Senn had to come up with a pair of saves.

Josh Teves has been healthy scratched a few times this year and has been deployed as a winger once, but he was back on the blue line today. He showed wheels to join the rush but was upended in the offensive zone with no call on the play.

The Devils went the other way and DiPietro came up with another save during a scramble in his crease before the Devils took the lead. Justin Bailey handed the puck over to Chris Conner, who made no mistake, beating DiPietro for his eighth goal of the season.

As mentioned earlier, the Comets were certainly having their sloppy moments in this game.

The Devils came looking for more but DiPietro was ready to kick aside the point shot that came his way. Lukas Jasek showed some great hustle to break in for a chance but he was denied by Senn, as was Perron who saw the Devils netminder stymie him from in close.

The sloppy play continued as Brandon Baddock had a chance denied by DiPietro. The young netminder wouldn’t come away with the win today, but he was keeping his team in the game with several of the saves that he was making.

The Comets have gotten some big games and some decent production out of many of their AHL contracted players this year and this shift showed that in spades when BigVinny finished off a play for his fifth goal of the season. The two Carters, Bancks and Camper assisted on the play with the captain grabbing his third helper of the year and Camper earned his fourth.

With five goals in 17 games, Arseneau is now on pace for 22 this season. He is also tied with Goldobin for second on the team in goals scored. Not bad, Vinny, not bad.

Just because the Comets scored, it didn’t mean they were taking control of the game as DiPietro had to come up big to stop Ben Street from point-blank range. The Devils kept it coming as Mikey D had to come up with a pair of saves on Mikhail Maltsev before Boucher was denied from in close at the other end.

Vincent Arseneau isn’t the type to let his goal-scoring prowess go to his head, he knows who he is on the ice and what his job is. The big man came up with a bone-rattling hit on Ryan Schmelzer in the neutral zone to keep the opposition honest.

The Devils started to press again as Joey Anderson snuck a shot through traffic that DiPietro had to steer aside. At the other end, Carter Bancks tried his luck with a shot through traffic as well but Senn was there with the save.

The sloppy play showed up again when Josh Teves lost the puck and the Devils went in for an odd-man chance. DiPietro was there with a big blocker save on Brandon Gignac before gloving down the Julian Melchiori chance that followed.

We had some back and forth before Hamilton and Boucher found themselves with a chance but Boucher put his shot off the target. Reid followed up by showing some good hustle as he tracked down a stretch pass but the Devils defender was there with him stride for stride and nothing came of the play.

DiPietro came up with a late stop on Anderson and the period ended with the Comets showing an edge of 16-11 on the shot clock.

Your second-period shot map:

It looked like the Comets might go up a goal early when the Hamilton line broke in for a chance. Goldy dished to Boucher, who in turn fed Hamilton for a shot that was denied by Senn.

Jalen Chatfield did Jalen Chatfield things when he gave Ben Street a rough ride to take him off the puck in the Comets end before Binghamton was dinged for having too many men on the ice. The Comets had an early power play to work with.

Neither unit managed to muster much of anything and the Comets power play came up empty once more.

No matter, as the team managed to get another goal from a trio of players on AHL deals soon after.

This time, it was Carter Bancks doing the damage when he banged in his fourth goal of the season on a rebound play. Dylan Blujus earned his second assist of the year on the play, while Dyson Stevenson grabbed his first.

The Devils came right back with a chance but Michael McLeod saw DiPietro come up with another save on his shot before Ashton Sautner fired one off the shoulder of Senn at the other end.

We had more back and forth when Kole Lind showed great work to slip his check in the offensive zone before dishing off to Blujus for a shot that rang off the iron. At the other end, Maltsev let fly with a point shot that was steered aside by the stick of DiPietro for another save.

The mistakes kept coming as this time it was Rafferty with the gaff as he coughed the puck up to Ben Street who put his shot off a leg and wide of the net.

Ashton Sautner was whistled for hooking at the 8:30 mark and it was off to the penalty kill for Utica.

With one of their regular penalty killers in the box, the coaching staff sent Bancks, Hamilton, Brisebois, and Chatfield out to start things off. Brisebois blocked a shot that looked to sting him, but he was back out for his next shift.

Bancks, however, put his team down two men when he was sent off for slashing at the 9:09 mark and the Comets had to kill off a five-on-three.

Hamilton, Chatfield, and Blujus were the chosen three to start things off. DiPietro had to make an early save and Blujus came up with the clear. The Comets netminder came up with a pad save through traffic and the Comets had killed off the Sautner minor. Boucher, Jasek, Sautner, and Brisebois steered this kill home and the Comets breathed a sigh of relief.

We had more back and forth before Melchiori let fly with a shot from the slot that DiPietro was alert to stop. The Comets goaltender kept the saves coming with another pair as the Devils kept their collective foot on the throttle before Mikey D gloved down another and held for the whistle.

Francis Perron had a chance to put his team up by a pair when he stole the puck in the neutral zone before breaking in with a shot that Senn denied. The Comets fourth line followed up with a good shift but were unable to add to the scoring.

We weren’t seeing a whole lot of the Camper, Bailey, Lind trio in the third period as Trent Cull shortened his bench.

Julian Melchiori had another shot through traffic denied by DiPietro before Brandon Baddock knotted the game at four with his first of the season when he hammered the puck past DiPietro. Michael McLeod picked up his fifth helper of the year on the play, while Melchiori grabbed his third.

The Comets tried to get that one back when Rafferty let fly with a shot that was smothered by Senn and held for the whistle. Joey Anderson got in for a chance on DiPietro but put his shot off the bar and out of play. Those crossbars were busy tonight.

The Devils kept it coming as DiPietro had to shut down chances from Schmelzer and Sharangovich before coming up with a trio of saves on yet another scramble play in his crease. The Comets will want to clean some of that fire drill action up in their own end.

As the period was winding down, we saw Blujus do great work to hold the puck in at the offensive blue line before putting the puck toward the net. Jasek was there with his shovel but Senn was equal to the task. We were off to overtime.

The Devils showed a 14-9 advantage on the shot clock for the third period and were outshooting the Comets by a 35-33 margin through regulation.

Your third-period shot map:

Trent Cull elected to start things off with the trio of Hamilton, Boucher, and Sautner. It was all Devils early as the Comets were unable to make anything happen when they had possession of the puck and fared far worse when the Devils had control. Boucher and Sautner were stuck out there for roughly an hour… or something like that.

Brett Seney had a chance but put it off the side of the net before Lind, Bailey, and Brisebois climbed over the boards.  That trio couldn’t make anything happen and they were replaced by Perron, Camper, and Rafferty.

Perron had a chance gobbled up from the right circle before we saw Camper run into Rafferty as the defender was trying to make a play. It was looking ugly for the Comets in the extra frame.

Hamilton, Jasek, and Chatfield took over without a whole lot going on before Goldy showed up on the scene and fired a shot that was tipped wide of the net.

Egor Sharangovich put this one away with 31 seconds remaining in overtime with his second goal of the season. Ryan Schmelzer did great work to make this play happen, earning his fifth helper of the year, while Dakota Mermis grabbed his third.

The Devils took this one 5-4 in overtime. Utica held a 2-1 shot advantage in the overtime frame, but Bingo held a 36-35 advantage for the game and came away with the win.

Your overtime shot map:

Power Play: 1/3.

Penalty Kill: 3/0.

PP Units:

Goldobin, Boucher, Lind, Bailey, and Rafferty.

Perron, Arseneau, Jasek, Camper, and Brisebois.

Penalty Killers:

Bancks, Hamilton, Boucher, Jasek, Brisebois, Blujus, Sautner, and Chatfield.

3rd Star: Brett Seney. Two goals.

2nd Star: Carter Bancks. One goal, one assist.

1st Star: Egor Sharangovich. Overtime winning goal.

3rd Star: Mikey DiPietro. This is the first time this season that DiPietro has given up more than two goals in a game, but he still had his big moments in this one. He finished with 31 saves on 36 shots and kept his team in this game with some big saves. Mikey is now showing a record of 4-3-1-0 along with a 2.29 goals-against-average and a 0.918% save percentage.

2nd Star: Brogan Rafferty. The rookie defender picked up a pair of assists to bring his points totals to two goals and nine helpers on the year. He was also credited with three shots on goal and has now wrestled the lead in shots from the blue line in Utica from Guillaume Brisebois. Guillaume is up to 28 shots on goal while Brogan now has 30. Rafferty is now on pace for 49 points in his rookie campaign.

1st Star: Carter Bancks. Credit where it is due, the captain had a good game today. He picked up a goal and an assist and did great work on the penalty kill. Bancks is currently clicking along at a half-a-point/game rate with seven points in 14 games this year. His four goals match his totals from each of his previous two seasons and are just 10 off his career-high of 14 from the 2015/16 season in Utica.

Game #18

Utica Comets at Laval Rocket

Friday, November 22nd, 2019

7:30 pm Eastern/4:30 pm Pacific