CanucksArmy Utica Comets Pre-Game: Game #69, Toronto Marlies At Utica Comets

Game #69

Vs Toronto Marlies

Friday, March, 29th, 2019

7:00 pm Eastern/4:00 pm Pacific

The Battle of the North continues today as the division’s third-ranked Marlies are in town to take on the sixth-ranked Comets for game number 69 of the season at 7:00 pm Eastern/4:00 pm Pacific. The Marlies come into today’s game with a record of 35-22-7-4, giving them 81 points on the season. The Comets, for their part, have gone 31-29-6-2 this year to give themselves 70 points for their efforts.

Jeremy Bracco leads all Marlies, as well as the rest of the AHL, with 19 goals and 53 helpers, giving him 72 points in 67 games this year. Chris Mueller sits second on the team and sixth in the league with 29 goals and 31 assists, giving him 60 points in 53 games. Dmytro Timashov rounds out their top three with 13 goals and 32 assists to give himself 45 points in 65 games this year.

Pierre Engvall is the Marlies’ rookie points leader with 18 goals and 12 helpers, giving him 30 points in 64 games. Lukas Jasek is the big cheese amongst Comets rookies with eight goals and 13 helpers to give himself 21 points in 55 games this year.

The Marlies’ power play is currently sitting fourth overall in the AHL after scoring 66 goals while up a man 291 times, giving them a success rate of 22.7% with the extra attacker. Their penalty kill sits 14th after giving up 46 goals while shorthanded 250 times for an 81.6% success rate.

The Comets power play is sitting in 17th place in the AHL after scoring 53 goals on 294 man-up opportunities, giving them an 18.0% success rate. Their penalty kill sits 23rd after giving up 54 goals while down a man 273 times for an 80.2% success rate.

Toronto has gone 5-3-1-1 over their previous 10 contests, while Utica shows a record of 1-8-1-0 over that same span. The Comets are coming off of a 6-2 loss to Syracuse, while the Marlies last played to a 5-3 overtime loss to Rochester. The Marlies are showing a record of 20-9-2-3 on the road this season, while the Comets have gone 18-13-3-0 at home this year.

In terms of goal differential, the Comets have been outscored by a count of 233-201, while the Marlies have outscored their opposition by a 229-223 margin this year.

The two clubs have squared off in four games already this season with each team holding a pair of wins, though the Marlies have outscored the Comets 20-18 during the process.

The Comets special teams have not been great this season, but they have been the better of the two teams in this series. The Comets have gone 4/17 on the man advantage against Toronto this year, giving them a success rate of 23.5% on the power play. Their penalty kill has also been better, allowing just two goals while down a man 13 times to the Marlies for a success rate of 84.6%.

The Marlies power play shows a success rate of 15.4% in the season series, while their penalty kill shows a success rate of 76.5% over the first four games.

Reid Boucher leads all skaters with seven points in this series, while Tanner Kero and Trevor Moore have each put up six. Pierre Engvall, Calle Rosen, Adam Cracknell and Jeremy Bracco have all picked up five points, while Marlies forward, Tanner MacMaster has grabbed four points, all while he was still a Comet.

Cam Darcy, Lukas Jasek, Adam Gaudette, and Vincent LoVerde have all picked up three points in the series.

Both clubs have used two goaltenders in the series with the Marlies leaning on Kasimir Kaskisuo for three games, where he has put up a record of 2-1 while posting a goals-against average of 4.48 and a save percentage of 0.873%. Jeff Glass has also seen time, going 0-1 while posting a GAA of 3.70 and a 0.852% save percentage.

The Comets have used Ivan Kulbakov, who has gone 2-1 with a 4.06 goals-against average along with a 0.883% save percentage, and Richard Bachman, who went 0-1 while posting a GAA of 6.09 and a 0.842% save percentage.

Goaltending has not exactly been a strength for either team in this series.

The two clubs will get underway in Utica today at 7:00 pm Eastern/4:00 pm Pacific. Stay tuned for the CanucksArmy post-game report following today’s action.