CanucksArmy Utica Comets Pre-Game: Game #40, Hartford Wolf Pack at Utica Comets

Game #40

Hartford Wolf Pack at Utica Comets

Wednesday, January 15th, 2020

7:00 pm Eastern/4:00 pm Pacific

The 22-13-2-2 Utica Comets will welcome the 23-9-2-5 Hartford Wolf Pack, (New York Rangers affiliate) to town today for game number 40 of the season at 7:00 pm Eastern/4:00 pm Pacific. Coming away with a win in today’s game will be no easy task for Utica as the Wolf Pack is the top team in the East with 53 points, while the Comets are sitting with 48 points for their season’s efforts.

The teams do have similar records over their previous 10 games, however, with Hartford going 7-3-0-0 over that span and the Comets showing a record of 6-3-1-0. Both clubs are also coming off of a loss as the Wolf Pack last played to a 3-0 loss to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and the Comets dropped a 4-0 decision to Belleville.

Hartford has a better record at home than they do on the road, which could work in the Comets favour, except that they are better on the road than they are at home. Utica shows a record of 10-8-2-1 at the Adirondack Bank Center, while Hartford has gone 7-8-2-3 on the road.

Both clubs have also outscored their opponents this season with the Comets scoring more goals than Hartford, but also allowing more. The Comets show a goal differential of plus-17 after scoring 135 goals this year and allowing 118. The Wolf Pack, for their part, have a goal differential of plus-10 after scoring 108 goals and allowing 98.

The special teams are a bit of a mixed bag with the two clubs as the Comets have the better power play, but the Wolf Pack has been better on the kill, so that should make for an interesting battle today.

The Comets power play has gone 35/161, giving them a success rate of 21.7% with the man advantage, while their penalty kill has given up 30 goals while down a man 172 times for a success rate of 82.6%. Hartford, for their part, shows a record of 21/155 on the power play for a lacklustre 13.5% success rate while up a man. Their penalty kill, however, has allowed just 20 goals while down a man 125 times for a success rate of 84.0%.

Vinni Lettieri paces the Hartford attack with 15 goals and 17 assists, giving him 32 points in 39 games this year, while Danny O’Regan sits second with eight goals and 16 helpers to give himself 24 points in 39 games. Steven Fogarty rounds out their top three with nine goals and 14 assists, giving him 23 points in 32 games.

Joey Keane leads the Wolf Pack rookie crew with six goals and 16 assists to give himself 22 points in 38 games played. Brogan Rafferty wears the rookie crown in Utica with his five goals and 28 assists, giving him 33 points in 39 games this year.

Reid Boucher is leading the Comets but now finds himself in a three-way tie for the league lead with 42 points in 34 games, while Rafferty’s 33 points have him sitting in second place on the Comets. From there, we have a three-way tie for third between Nikolay Goldobin, Kole Lind, and Sven Baertschi with 32 points apiece.

This will be the second meeting of the season between the two teams as Hartford took game one by a 3-1 score earlier this month. In that game, neither team managed to take advantage of their power plays as the Comets went 0/3 while the Wolf Pack went 0/8.

Phil Di Giuseppe and Darren Raddysh each picked up two points in the first game to lead the series, although Di Giuseppe will not be available today. Vinny Lettieri, Vincent LoVerde, Matt Belesky, Boo Nieves, Danny O’Regan, Reid Boucher, and Kole Lind each picked up one point for their efforts in game one.

Mikey DiPietro took the loss for Utica in the first game while posting a goals-against-average of 3.06 along with a 0.925% save percentage. Adam Huska was the goaltender of record for Hartford and posted a 1.00 GAA and a 0.963% save percentage for the win.

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