CanucksArmy Utica Comets Pre-Game: Game #11, Utica Comets at Binghamton Devils

Game #11

Utica Comets at Binghamton Devils

Wednesday, November 6th, 2019

7:05 pm Eastern/4:05 pm Pacific

The 8-2-0-0 Utica Comets hit the road to Binghamton today to take on the 3-7-2-0 Devils, (New Jersey affiliate) for game number 11 of the season.

The Devils are coming off of a 3-2 loss to Syracuse, while the Comets last played to a 6-0 beatdown at the hands of the Rochester Americans. The Comets have only played three games on the road this year, but they have won all of them, while the Devils are showing a home record of 2-1-1-0 coming into today’s action.

Utica has outscored its competition by a count of 39-22, while Binghamton has scored 29 goals and given up 41. The Devils’ recent acquisition of goaltender Louis Domingue should help smooth the waters in what has been a shakey crease situation for Bingo.

The Comets power play has been a sore spot this season. They have had the personnel to dominate with the extra man, but have somehow only gone 4/35 on the power play, giving them a success rate of 11.4%. Their penalty kill has been far better, killing off 35 of 38 man-down situations for a success rate of 92.1%.

The Devils, for their part, have gone 6/45 on the power play to give them a slightly better success rate of 13.3% with the extra man. Their penalty kill has given up eight goals while down a man 36 times for a success rate of 77.8%.

Reid Boucher will not be available today as he is out with a lower-body injury, but he leads the Comets with 10 goals and three assists to give himself 13 points in 10 games. Sven Baertschi sits second with two goals and eight helpers to give himself 10 points in seven games, but he is up with the parent Canucks and won’t be available today either. Nikolay Goldobin rounds out the team’s top three with one goal and nine assists to give himself 10 points in nine games.

Brogan Rafferty leads the Comets rookie crew with his one goal and four assists to give himself five points in 10 games. Fabian Zetterlund is the Devils’ rookie leader with two points, both goals, in six games.

Brett Seney leads the Devils with six goals and five helpers to give himself 11 points in 12 games, while Chris Conner sits second with five goals and five assists in 11 games. Ben Street rounds out their top three with his three goals and seven assists in 12 games.

The two clubs have squared off in three games this year with the Comets coming away as the victor by a combined score of 12-5.

The Comets power play has gone 1/7 against Binghamton this year for a success rate of 14.3%. They’ve killed off all seven penalties that they’ve taken against the Devils this year.

Reid Boucher leads the series with four goals and two assists over the first three games, while Kole Lind sits second on the back of his two goals and three assists. Frankie Perron also has five points with one goal and four assists in two games against Binghamton. Carter Bancks has a point/game in the series with one goal and two assists, while eight players are tied with two points each.

Zane McIntyre has been the man between the pipes in all three games for Utica, posting three wins along with a goals-against-average of 1.67 and a 0.933% save percentage. The Devils have started Evan Cormier in all three games and he shows a GAA of 3.77 along with a 0.885% save percentage against the Comets this year.

The Canucks announced today that left-shot defender Ashton Sautner has been returned to the Comets. He won’t likely be available for today’s action.

The Comets also announced the signing of Justin Taylor to a PTO, (professional tryout offer). The 30-year-old product of Mindemoya Ontario was a 6th-round pick of the Washington Capitals back in the 2007 NHL draft. He plays the middle and has already suited up in two games for the Comets while on a tryout with the team in the 2017/18 season. He picked up his first, and only AHL goal during that stint with the Comets. The veteran of 547 ECHL games has put up 206 goals and 183 assists to give himself 389 points. His ECHL games will not count towards the AHL veteran limit, so there are no worries on that front.

Taylor has been plying his trade with the Comets ECHL affiliate Kalamazoo Wings this season where he has tallied three goals and three assists in six games to go along with his nine minutes spent in the penalty box. The veteran pivot has played parts or all of his last 10 seasons with the Kalamazoo Wings.

The two clubs will be getting underway in Binghamton today at 7:05 pm Eastern/4:05 pm Pacific. As always, stay tuned for the CanucksArmy Post-Game Report following today’s action.

One more note: I have a friend named Ian Cooper. Some of you may know Coop from Twitter,(@1Cooop). Coop has been fighting cancer since 2016 and was admitted to the hospital again last night.

I would be forever grateful if my readers could send some positive thoughts in the direction of Coop, his wife and their two sons. This is an incredibly difficult time for them and they could use all of the support that we can give them.

I set up a Go-Fund-Me for Coop’s family when he was first diagnosed in 2016. At the time, very few people knew that he was told he’d only have 3-6 months to live. The stubborn bugger decided to stick around a little longer than that, but his family could still use your support if you are able.