CanucksArmy Utica Comets Pre-Game: Game #46, Utica Comets at Belleville Senators

Game #46

Utica Comets at Belleville Senators

Saturday, January 25th, 2020

7:00 pm Eastern/4:00 pm Pacific

The 25-16-2-2 Utica Comets and 26-14-3-1 Belleville Senators, (Ottawa affiliate) are right back at it today after making a quick trip across the border for game number 46 in Belleville at 7:00 pm Eastern/4:00 pm Pacific. Belleville skated out of Utica with a 5-3 win yesterday and are now two points up on the Comets and have a game in hand.

You can read all about that game below.

While the Comets are still sitting in second place in the North Division, yesterday’s loss has them in a somewhat precarious position. The Rochester Americans are just two points behind and have three games in hand. In the tight North Division, the Comets will need to tighten up their defensive efforts if they want to keep themselves in playoff position.

Yesterday’s game saw the Comets go down 1-0 early, but they had battled back to take a 2-1 lead into the second period. Unfortunately, the Sens were able to knot things up in the middle frame before scoring three unanswered goals in the third.

The Comets held the edge in shots with 28 to the Sens 26 in yesterday’s game, while the Sens had the special teams advantage, going 1/4 while shutting down all five Comets power plays. Both clubs scored a shorthanded goal, however, as John Stevens grabbed his first in a Comets jersey while shorthanded and Morgan Klimchuk did the same for the Sens to seal the win.

Nikolay Goldobin and Ashton Sautner each took a pair of penalties yesterday in a game that saw the officials throw their arm in the air 15 times to signal a penalty for one side or the other.

We saw fights between Jonah Gadjovich and Andreas Englund as well as between Sautner and Filip Chlapik. Joe LaBate tried to goad The Gentleman into the fisticuffs, but Bailey declined. We also got to see Stefan LeBlanc go full ginger on Patrick Kelly after the latter clipped Bailey with a hit that LeBlanc didn’t like.

This is all to say that today’s contest could be a physical affair between two teams who are battling for top spot in the North.

Zane McIntyre had a bit of a rough outing yesterday. Mikey DiPietro will likely be getting the nod today for the Comets after getting a break for yesterday’s game. The break for DiPietro came after playing earlier in the week and then having the team’s goalie coach in town to work with him.

The Comets have seen some players return from injury lately as Sven Baerstchi and Frankie Perron both came back on Wednesday, while Brogan Rafferty was back in the lineup for yesterday’s game.

Justin Bailey has 16 points in his last nine games for the Comets with 11 of those points coming as goals, while John Stevens picked up his first two points in a Comets jersey yesterday. Hopefully, that is a sign of things to come for Stevens, not that I expect him to be a big point producer.

Olli Juolevi has eight points in his last 10 outings for the Comets, but his plus/minus has taken a beating over his last three games as he is a combined minus-8 over that span.

For the Sens, Logan Brown has collected 10 points in his last six games, while Drake Batherson has put up a point/game over his last four contests.

The two clubs will get after it again today in Belleville at 7:00 pm Eastern/4:00 pm Pacific. As always, CanucksArmy will have your post-game report following the game.