CanucksArmy Utica Comets Pre-Game: Game #17, Binghamton Devils at Utica Comets

Game #17

Binghamton Devils at Utica Comets

Wednesday, November 20th, 2019

7:00 pm Eastern/4:00 pm Pacific

The 10-6-0-0 Utica Comets are back in action today as they welcome the 6-8-3-0 Binghamton Devils, (New Jersey affiliate) to town for game 17 of the season. The Comets are coming off of a 4-3 loss to the Rochester Americans, while the Devils last played to a 3-2 loss to the Springfield Thunderbirds.

The Devils show a record of 2-6-1-0 on the road this season, while the Comets have gone 5-5-0-0 at home. Binghamton has given up 53 goals this year while scoring 44. The Comets have outscored their opponents by a count of 54-39 so far this season.

Utica’s power play has gone 9/59 this year, giving them a success rate of 15.3% with the man advantage. They aren’t where they’d like to be on that front, but things are finally trending in the right direction. On the penalty kill, the Comets have given up nine goals while down a man 70 times for a success rate of 87.1%.

The Devils, for their part, have gone 10/63 with the man advantage for a success rate of 15.9%, while their penalty kill has given up 11 goals while down a man 57 times for an 80.7% success rate.

Ben Street leads all Bingo scorers with seven goals and 13 helpers to give himself 20 points in 17 games this year, while Brett Seney sits second with his nine goals and seven assists, giving him 16 points in 17 games. Chris Conner rounds out their top three with seven goals and six assists to give himself 13 points in 16 games.

Fabian Zetterlund leads the Devils rookie group with two goals and one assist, giving him three points in 10 games this season. Brogan Rafferty is the Comets rookie leader with two goals and nine helpers, giving him nine points in 16 games. That has the Comets rookie blueliner on pace to break the record for points by a defenceman in a single season for the Comets set by Bobby Sanguinetti with 40 back in the 2014/15 season. Rafferty is currently on pace for 43.

Reid Boucher is the big cheese in Utica with 13 goals and five assists, giving him 18 points in just 11 games this year. Boosh continues to get it done for the Comets in all three zones. Tricky Nicky Goldobin sits second with his four goals and 12 helpers to give himself 16 points in 15 games this year, while Kole Lind rounds out the top three with three goals and nine assists, giving him 12 points in 16 games. Kole had 17 points in 51 games last season, so the second-year winger has shown that he is becoming more comfortable at the pro level.

The two clubs have squared off five times already in this young season with the Comets showing a four-games-to-one advantage while outscoring the Devils by a count of 17-11 in the process. The last game between the two clubs was settled in overtime with the Comets coming away with the win.

The Devils have gone 1/14 with the man advantage in the series, while the Comets have gone 1/12.

Reid Boucher and Ben Street lead the series with six points each, while Kole Lind and Frankie Perron have put up five each. Brogan Rafferty has picked up four points over the first five games of the series, as has Nathan Bastian, while Vincent Arseneau, Justin Bailey, Carter Bancks, Nikolay Goldobin, Chris Conner, Joey Anderson, and Brett Seney all have three points to their credit in the series.

The Devils have used Louis Domingue and Evan Cormier in goal for the series. Domingue went 1-0-1 in his two games, posting a goals-against-average of 2.46 along with a 0.906% save percentage. He has since been summoned to New Jersey. Cormier, for his part, has gone 0-3-0 against the Comets, posting a GAA of 3.77 along with a save percentage of 0.885%.

Mikey DiPietro has played one game against the Devils, coming away with the win while posting a GAA of 1.91 along with a 0.933% save percentage. Zane McIntyre started the other four games, going 3-1-0 while putting up a GAA of 2.02 along with a save percentage of 0.929%.

Bingo found out yesterday that goaltender Cory Schneider had cleared waivers and had been assigned to their club. Schneider spent parts of six seasons in the Canucks system before the trade that brought the ninth overall pick in the 2013 draft, (Bo Horvat) to Vancouver. It is possible that the Comets could face Schneider today.

The two clubs will get underway in Utica today at 7:00 pm Eastern/4:00 pm Pacific. As always, CanucksArmy will have your post-game report following today’s action.