CanucksArmy Utica Comets Pre-Game: Game #54, Utica Comets at Belleville Senators

Game #54

Utica Comets at Belleville Senators

Friday, February 21st, 2020

7:00 pm Eastern/4:00 pm Pacific

The 28-20-3-2 Utica Comets hit the road to Belleville to take on the 34-15-4-1 Senators, (Ottawa affiliate) for game number 54 of the season today at 7:00 pm Eastern/4:00 pm Pacific. The Sens sit atop the North Division with 73 points, while the Comets are clinging to the division’s third spot with 61.

It is a tale of two teams when we look at the previous 10 games that each club has played with the Comets showing a lowly 3-6-1-0 record over that span, while the Sens have gone 8-1-1-0. Yikes! The Comets are coming off of a 3-2 loss to Rochester, while the Sens last played to a 3-2 overtime win over the same team.

Belleville has been absolute money on the road this year, and they haven’t been so bad at home either, going 13-11-1-1 on home ice, while the Comets have gone 13-10-1-1 on the road this season. Both teams have outscored their competition this year as the Comets sit with a goal differential of plus-17, while the Sens, for their part, show a staggering plus-38… PLUS-38!!!

One area where the Comets would appear to have an advantage is on special teams. When we look at the overall picture, the Comets have been better, going 47/214 on the season to give themselves a success rate of 22.0% with the man advantage. On the penalty kill, they have allowed 44 goals while down a man 227 times to give themselves a success rate of 80.6%.

The Sens, for their part, have gone 44/235 on the power play, giving them a success rate of 18.7%. Their penalty kill has allowed 52 goals while down a man 256 times for a 79.7% success rate. We will talk more about special teams when we get to the Season Series portion of this pre-game report.

Josh Norris leads all Belleville scorers with 58 points in 51 games, but he will not be available to the team today as he has been summoned to the big club. That leaves fellow rookie Alex Formenton as the team’s active leading scorer with 23 goals and 23 assists, giving him 46 points in 52 games this year. Drake Batherson sits second with his 14 goals and 32 helpers to give himself 46 points in 37 games, while Vitaly Abramov rounds out their top three with 18 goals and 17 assists, giving him 35 points in 42 games.

As mentioned above, Norris would be leading the Sens rookie crew with his 58 points in 51 games, but with him being up with Ottawa, Formnton takes his place with 46 points in 52 games. For the Comets, it is defender Brogan Rafferty leading the way with six goals and 33 assists to give himself 39 points in his 49 games played this season.

Reid Boucher is the top dog in Utica with 28 goals and 28 assists, giving him 56 points in 46 games, while Nikolay Goldobin sits second with 19 goals and 27 assists to give himself 46 points in 46 games. Justin Bailey rounds out Utica’s top three with his 24 goals and 16 assists, giving him 40 points in 45 games.

The two clubs have battled each other in five games already this season with Belleville holding a three-games-to-two advantage after winning the previous three straight. The Sens have also outscored the Comets by an 18-11 margin over the first five games.

Do you remember what I was saying earlier about how the Comets special teams have been better than the Sens’ overall this year? Well, you can forget about it as it has been a different story when we look at how things have gone in the season series.

The Comets have scored just two goals while up a man on Belleville 25 times in the series, giving them a success rate of just 8%. Their penalty kill has allowed eight goals while down a man 25 times to Belleville, giving them a success rate of 68%. Those are not good numbers, folks.

Both clubs have used a pair of netminders in the series as Filip Gustavsson and Joey Daccord have both seen time against the Comets this year, while Zane McIntyre and Mikey DiPietro have both suited up against the Sens.

Daccord shows a record of 2-2-0 while putting up a goals-against-average of 2.30 along with a 0.920% save percentage. Gustavsson, for his part, has gone 1-0-0 while posting a 2.00 GAA and a 0.929% save percentage.

For the Comets, McIntyre has gone 2-2-0 while putting up a GAA of 3.26 along with a 0.874% save percentage. DiPietro shows a record of 0-1-0 with a GAA of 4.16 and a 0.871% save percentage.

Morgan Klimchuk, Logan Brown, and Brogan Rafferty lead the series with five points each, while Michael Carcone, Alex Formenton, Joe LaBate, Jordan Murray, and Nikolay Goldobin have all put up four.

The Comets have seen some bodies moved around since they last played as Tyler Graovac and Guillaume Brisebois have returned from their recalls to Vancouver. It doesn’t sound like Graovac will be an option today as the team will want to get him into some practices first.

The team also announced their second PTO signing, (professional tryout offer) of the season with the addition of forward Matt McLeod from Brampton of the ECHL. McLeod hasn’t exactly set the world ablaze with his offensive prowess as he shows just three goals and three assists over 26 games with the Beast. Maybe he brings the pain with some physical play or some fisticuffs… checks his penalty minutes and sees the number four… nope, that doesn’t appear to be his game either. I guess we will have to wait for him to take to the ice before we see what Ryan Johnson sees.

Justin Bailey has also been returned to Utica… which should make his little brother Kole Lind happy.

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