CanucksArmy Utica Comets Pre-Game: Game #46, Utica Comets at Rochester Americans

Game #46

At Rochester Americans

Friday, January 25th, 2019

7:05 pm Eastern/4:05 pm Pacific

The 11th overall Utica Comets will roll into Rochester this afternoon at 4:05 pm Pacific to take on the third-ranked Americans, (Buffalo affiliate) for game number 46 of the season. The Americans will bring a record of 25-13-2-1 into today’s contest, giving them 53 points on the season. The Comets, for their part, have gone 23-18-3-1 this year, bringing their season’s total to 50 points.

Utica has been outscored by a margin of 157-145 so far this season, while the Amerks have outscored their competition by a count of 137-123.

The Comets are led in scoring by Reid Boucher and his 17 goals and 22 helpers, giving him 39 points in 33 games. Tanner Kero sits second with 16 goals and 21 helpers, giving him 37 points in 43 games. Zack MacEwen is hot on his heels, rounding out the Comets top three with 16 goals and 20 assists, to give himself 36 points in 44 games this year.

Jonathan Dahlen leads the Comets rookie class with 11 goals and 11 helpers, giving himself 22 points in 41 games. Rasmus Asplund is the top rookie points getter in Rochester with two goals and 12 assists, giving him 14 points in 41 games.

The injured Zach Redmond leads all Rochester scorers with 19 goals and 20 helpers, giving him 39 points in 41 games. CJ Smith sits second with his 16 goals and 20 assists, bringing his totals to 36 points in 37 games. Victor Olofsson rounds out their top three with 14 goals and 21 assists to give himself 35 points in 38 games.

The Amerks’ power play is currently ranked fifth in the AHL after scoring 36 goals on 162 opportunities for a success rate of 22.2%. Their penalty kill sits 23rd in the league after giving up 35 goals while down a man 172 times for a 79.7% success rate.

The Comets power play hasn’t fared as well, sitting 15th in the league with a success rate of 19.4% after scoring 40 goals while up a man 206 times. Their penalty kill was only slightly better, sitting 12th after giving up 34 goals while down a man 187 times this year for a success rate of 81.8%.

The Comets have gone 7-2-1-0 over their previous 10 games, while the Amerks show a record of 6-3-1-0 over that same span. Rochester is coming off of a 7-5 win over Binghamton, while the Comets last played to a 5-2 loss to Belleville.

Rochester is sporting a home record of 13-9-0-0 coming into today’s action, while the Comets have gone 11-8-2-1 so far this season on the road.

The two clubs have squared off five times this season with the Amerks holding a three-games-to-two advantage, having outscored the Comets 22-12 in the process.

The Amerks also hold the edge in the special teams department over those five games, going 8/22 on the power play to give themselves a success rate of 36.4% to the Comets 20.8% success rate, while their penalty kill also bested the Comets, giving up five goals while down a man 24 times for a 79.2% success rate compared to the Comets 63.6% success rate while short a man.

Victor Olofsson leads the series with three goals and four helpers, giving him seven points in five games. CJ Smith and Lawrence Pilut sit second with six points each, while Alex Nylander and Wayne Simpson each have five points.

Rookie forward Jonathan Dahlen has been the best the Comets have had in the series with two goals and one assist to give himself three points. Former Comets forward Darren Archibald, Cam Darcy, Zack MacEwen, and Evan McEneny have also put up three points, though all but McEneny have done it with one goal and two helpers. McEneny picked up all three of his points as assists.

The Comets have used two goaltenders in this series and neither would be available to them today as Thatcher Demko is up with Vancouver and Richard Bachman is on the shelf with his injury. Demko had gone 1-1 with a 3.11 goals-against average and a save percentage of 0.902%. Bachman went 1-2 with a 4.67 goals-against average and a save percentage of 0.861%.

The Amerks have used three netminders as all of Scott Wedgewood, Jonas Johansson, and Adam Wilcox have seen time in the series. Wedgewood shows a record of 2-0 with a 0.50 goals-against average and a save percentage of 0.978%. Johansson has gone 1-0 with a goals-against average of 2.00 and a 0.926% save percentage. Wilcox rounds out their group with a record of 0-2, posting a goals-against average of 4.11 and a 0.860% save percentage.

The two clubs get underway today in Rochester at 7:05 pm Eastern/4:05 pm Pacific. Stay tuned for the CancuksArmy post-game report following the game.