CanucksArmy Utica Comets Post-Game: Utica Comets Drop Second Straight 4-2 Decision, This Time To Belleville

Game #23

At Belleville Senators

Friday, November 30th, 2018

7:00 pm Eastern/4:00 pm Pacific

The 22nd overall Utica Comets rolled into Belleville today to take on the 25th ranked Senators, (Ottawa affiliate) for game number 23 of the season. The Comets showed a record of 9-11-1-1 coming into today’s contest, giving them 20 points on the season, while the Sens had a record of 9-11-1-0, giving them 19 points.

The Comets had been outscored by a margin of 81-63 this season, while the Sens had scored 65 goals while giving up 72. Belleville had gone 4-5-1-0 over their previous 10 games, while Utica had a record of 4-5-0-1 over the same span.

The Sens were coming off of a 2-1 loss to Laval, while Utica last played to a 4-2 loss to Binghamton. Belleville showed a home record of 6-5-0-0 ahead of today’s game, while the Comets had a road record of 5-4-1-1 on the season.

Reid Boucher was the Comets points leader with 10 goals and six helpers in 12 games this year, while Zack MacEwen sat second with 16 points as well, coming in the form of nine goals and seven assists in 22 games. Tanner Kero rounded out Utica’s top three with six goals and 10 assists, giving him 16 points in 22 games as well. Jonathan Dahlen was the club’s active points leader amongst rookies with three goals and 10 assists to give himself 13 points in 21 games played this year.

Jack Rodewald was the Sens leading scorer amongst active players with seven goals and eight helpers in 17 games, while Rudolphs Balcers sat second with seven goals and six assists, giving him 13 points in 21 games. Paul Carey rounded out their top three with two goals and 11 assists to give himself 13 points in 15 games.

The Comets power play has improved of late and was now the league’s fifth-ranked unit, going 24/100 for a success rate of 24.0%. Their penalty kill was still a work in progress, but getting better, sitting 12th overall after giving up 16 goals while down a man 91 times for an 82.4% success rate.

The Sens power play sat 12th overall in the AHL, going 20/96 for a success rate of 20.8%. Their penalty kill was ranked 27th overall, giving up 24 goals while shorthanded 105 times this year for a 77.1% success rate.

Wacey Hamilton, (week-to-week) Vincent Arseneau, (week-to-week) Jalen Chatfield, (week-to-week) Olli Juolevi (week-to-week) Carter Bancks, (week-to-week) Jagger Dirk, Brandon Anselmini, Jonah Gadjovich, Petrus Palmu, and Tanner MacMaster.

16 Brendan Gaunce – 21 Brendan Woods – 13 Kole Lind

9 Lukas Jasek – 10 Tanner Kero (A) – 24 Reid Boucher

58 Michael Carcone – 27 Tony Cameranesi – 15 Zack MacEwen

54 Jonathan Dahlen – 11 Cam Darcy – 25 Darren Archibald (A)

6 Ashton Sautner – 8 Dylan Blujus

55 Guillaume Brisebois – 26 Jaime Sifers (A)

2 Evan McEneny – 64 Jesse Graham

30 Thatcher Demko

32 Richard Bachman (backing up)

The first period was a pretty solid frame of back and forth hockey, but the Sens had a wide lead on the shot clock by the time the buzzer sounded to end the period.

Thatcher Demko kicked aside an early shot before following up by getting a pad on a Stuart Percy offering to shut him down as well.

At the other end of the ice, Jaime Sifers bounced a shot on net that Marcus Hogberg turned aside before Reid Boucher saw his rebound chance denied as well.

Brendan Woods has been a very good penalty killer for the Comets this year, but he has also been a bit of a penalty taking machine as well, although that has slowed recently. Woods was dinged for hooking at the 7:13 mark, however, and the Comets were headed to the penalty kill.

We saw penalty killing units of Tanner Kero and Darren Archibald up front, along with Ashton Sautner and Dylan Blujus on the back end, as well as Cam Darcy and Zack MacEwen up front with Guillaume Brisebois and Jaime Sifers.

Demko came up with a huge with the splits to keep this game tied at zero when he stymied Jack Rodewald with this beauty of a save.

Thatcher followed up by steering the puck over the glass with a shoulder save. The Comets netminder was busy in the opening frame. Demko whipped out the mitt to shut down an Adam Tambellini offering before Dylan Blujus was sent off for delay of game after sending the puck over the glass and the Comets were back to the kill.

Logan Brown would make that Belleville power play a brief one when he was sent off for slashing just five seconds later.

During the four aside play, Jordan Murray, let fly with a shot off the left side that Demko turned aside before Tambellini put the Sens up 1-0 after knocking the puck out of the air and past Demko for his eighth goal of the season. Chase Balisy picked up his fifth helper of the year on the play, while Erik Bergdoerfer earned his third.

Jonathan Dahlen showed some nice work in the defensive zone to reclaim the puck for the Comets and send it going the right direction before Zack MacEwen followed up with a solid hit on Filip Chlapik behind the Sens net.

Rudolphs Balcers went the other way and uncorked a shot from the high slot that Demko turned aside before following up with another save on the rebound chance.

Kole Lind hit Brendan Woods in close with a pass and the big pivot saw his shot swallowed up by Hogberg for a whistle. Brendan Gaunce followed up with a chance from the slot that was also kicked aside by the Belleville netminder.

MacEwen hit Tony Cameranesi for a chance, but the centre put his shot right into the crest of Hogberg for another whistle.

Former Comets forward, Joe LaBate crushed Cam Darcy with a stiff hit at the Comets blueline, but Darcy bounced back up and got back into the play. Brendan Woods followed up with a solid hit of his own on Francois Beauchemin as the period wound down.

Belleville showed a 17-7 advantage on the shot clock in the opening period.

The Comets came out with a good chance early as Boucher and Archibald hooked up for a shot that was tipped out of play. Trent Cull had the line blender out to start the second as Archibald was now with Kero and Boucher, while Gaunce was with Darcy and Lind.

I feel like I write this in every post-game report, but Michael Carcone broke in with speed for a chance that was kicked aside by Hogberg. At the other end of the ice, Ashton Sautner came up with a shot block that looked to sting him a bit as he headed off the ice and down the tunnel with the trainer shortly after. Sautner would eventually return later in the period.

Evan McEneny was whistled for tripping at the 4:32 mark and it was back to the kill for Utica. The Comets did some great work and came up with a good kill. Just six seconds after the McEneny penalty ended, Gabriel Gagne was sent off for hooking.

Boucher had a one-timer turned aside at one end of the ice, while Paul Carey saw Demko deny his shorthanded chance at the other.

Jonathan Dahlen let fly with a shot from the high slot that Hogberg kicked aside and the Comets would come up empty once more. There was some good back and forth before a brief scrum erupted in front of the Sens bench, but cooler heads would prevail before any penalties had to be assessed.

Former Comets forward, Joe LaBate unloaded a shot off the left side that Demko gloved down for a whistle before Darren Archibald changed the tone of the game with a big hit on Patrick Sieloff, which he followed up with a solid tilt against Nick Paul. I have to give the decision to Archibald as he fed Paul with a steady diet of fists in this one.

It was after this fight that we saw Sautner make his return from the room and get back into the game. Sautner didn’t take long to show he was ready to play as he let fly with a shot that was stopped before Kole Lind jumped on the rebound but couldn’t get it to go.

Tanner Kero was Mr. Assist to start the season, but he has been banging in a few goals of late as well. He picked up his seventh of the season after burying a rebound chance from a bad angle to tie the game at one. Boucher picked up his seventh helper of the year on the play, while MacEwen earned his eighth.

The Comets kept it coming as just over two minutes later, Tony Cameranesi put a rebound chance past Hogberg for his first goal of the season. This goal was all Michael Carcone though. The speedy winger blasted into the Sens zone with the puck, whipped out a spin-o-rama in tight before getting a shot away that was kicked out. He followed up with another shot and Cameranesi buried the rebound. Carcone picked up his ninth helper of the year on the play, while Lukas Jasek grabbed his sixth.

Logan Brown was sent off for tripping at the 17:57 mark and the Comets had a late power play.

Evan McEneny had a point shot turned aside and the period would come to an end with the Comets up 2-1. Utica held a 14-6 advantage in shots for the middle frame.

The Comets were on the receiving end of an early third period power play as Darren Archibald drew a holding penalty on Patrick Sieloff just 24 seconds in. The Comets, however, were unable to get anything going and couldn’t take advantage with the extra man.

There was a bit of back and forth as Carcone let fly with a shot off the left side that was blockered away by Hogberg before Boucher came up with a shot block in the Comets zone that led to a break into the Sens zone for himself, but Hogberg shut the door once more.

Logan Brown took a feed from Chase Balisy off the rush and beat Demko to tie the game at two with his third goal of the season. Balisy picked up his sixth assist of the season on the play, while Ben Sexton grabbed his ninth.

Demko came up with a big save off of the stick of Sexton from in tight after a Sens faceoff win before Belleville hemmed the Comets in their own end for a couple of shifts.

The extended pressure ultimately resulted in Jordan Murray putting the Sens up 3-2 just over three and a half minutes after the Brown tally. The goal was the fourth of the year for Murray, while Erik Bergdoerfer picked up his fourth helper of the year on the play and Brown grabbed his second.

Brendan Woods followed up the goal with a chance from in close that was denied. Woods seems to get a lot of scoring chances that he isn’t able to capitalize on, but he does some solid work on the defensive side of the puck.

Demko covered up for a whistle after shutting down a Sens chance driven to his net before flashing the leather on a Sieloff offering from the high slot. Thatcher followed up with a scramble play with the puck in his feet that ended up going to a video review, but the save was made and it was still a 3-2 game.

Kole Lind was at the centre of a scrum in front of the Sens bench earlier in the game, and he was in the thick of it again as another brief scrum broke out in the Sens end in the final frame.

Brendan Woods was sent off for interference at the 14:36 mark and it was back to the kill for Utica. This was an aggressive kill for the Comets and they did great work to come away unscathed and still in the game.

Jack Rodewald unloaded with a shot from in close that was swallowed up by Demko as time was winding down on the Comets in this one. It was nice to see Lukas Jasek getting a look in the final two minutes with his club down by a goal. He seems to be earning some trust from his coaching staff.

Demko was summoned to the bench for the extra attacker with about 1:38 to go in the third and we saw LaBate fire a shot off the outside of the empty net before a controversial empty net goal was scored by Filip Chlapik. Zack MacEwen was clipped with a high-stick in the Sens end of the ice, right in front of the official, but no call was made. Chalpik and Sieloff went the other way and an empty net goal was awarded while MacEwen was leaking on the way back to the bench. It was a pretty unfortunate miss by the officials, but that’s the way things go sometimes. Chalpik was given his sixth goal of the season, while Sieloff ended up with his fifth helper of the year.

Belleville showed a 10-6 advantage in shots for the third period and a 33-27 advantage for the game.

Kero (7) from Boucher (7) and MacEwen (8).

Cameranesi (1) from Carcone (9) and Jasek (6).

3rd Star: Chase Balisy. Two assists.

2nd Star: Logan Brown. One goal, one assist.

1st Star: Marcus Hogberg. 25 saves.

3rd Star: Lukas Jasek. Jasek saw time on the power play today and was playing mostly with players who can help him provide offence for the club. He picked up his sixth assist and is now up to 11 points in 19 games played this season. He is currently putting up 0.58 points/game, or 44 points over a 76 game season. That is some pretty solid production from the first year forward. Jasek looks to be earning the trust of his coaching staff as he was out in the final two minutes of the game with the team looking to tie things up.

2nd Star: Thatcher Demko. Demko put up another 29 saves today, and although he didn’t get the win, he looked sharp once again for the Comets. We have come to expect a lot from Thatcher as the future between the pipes for the Canucks, and he has not let the fans or his teammates down through his first four starts of the season. He has a record of 2-2 with a goals-against average of 2.52 and a save percentage of 0.907% while he works his way back from his training camp concussion. Demko made some big saves for his club today.

1st Star: Michael Carcone. Carcone is now up to six goals and nine helpers on the season to give himself 15 points in 19 games. That is a blistering pace of 0.79 points/game or 60 points for a 76 game season. Every time I say that his pace is unsustainable, he picks up another point. Carcone could still end up being a diamond in the rough for the Canucks if his development continues in his third pro season. There is just so much speed to his game that I can’t help but want to see him on the ice more. He can push the pace when he is flying the way that he can.

At Laval Rocket

Saturday, December 1st, 2018

3:00 pm Eastern/12:00 noon Pacific