CanucksArmy Utica Comets Pre-Game: Game #73, Utica Comets At Providence Bruins

Game #73

At Providence Bruins

Sunday, April 7th, 2019

3:05 pm Eastern/12:05 pm Pacific

The North Division’s sixth-ranked Comets will wrap up their three-games-in-three-days weekend today with game number 73 when they hit the road to Providence to take on the Atlantic Division’s fourth-ranked Bruins, (Boston affiliate) at 12:05 pm Pacific.

The Comets are showing a record of 32-32-6-2 coming into today’s contest, giving them 72 points on the season. The Bruins, for their part, have gone 36-25-8-3 this season to give themselves 83 points.

The Comets special teams have been an issue for much of this season as both groups are well into the bottom half of the league standings. That will need to be looked into for next season if the team wants to have success.

Utica has the AHL’s 19th ranked power play after scoring 56 goals on 316 man-up opportunities, giving them a success rate of 17.7%. Their penalty kill has been worse, sitting 24th in the league after giving up 59 goals while down a man 293 times for a 79.9% success rate.

The Bruins have the league’s 22nd ranked power play after scoring 52 goals on 300 opportunities to give themselves a success rate of 17.3% with the extra man. Their penalty kill sits second in the league after giving up just 43 goals while down a man 299 times for an 85.6% success rate.

Reid Boucher leads all Comets skaters with 28 goals and 30 assists, giving him 58 points in 53 games this season. Tanner Kero sits second with 24 goals and 30 assists to give himself 54 points in 64 games, while Zack MacEwen rounds out their top three with 21 goals and 29 helpers, giving him 50 points in 65 games.

Lukas Jasek is the rookie leader in Utica with eight goals and 16 assists, giving him 24 points in 59 games with the team this year. Karson Kuhlman wears the rookie crown in Providence with his 12 goals and 18 assists to give himself 30 points in 58 games.

Paul Carey is the top dog for the Bruins with 25 goals and 32 assists, giving him 57 points in 57 games this season. Jordan Szwarz sits second with 22 goals and 20 assists to give himself 42 points in 65 games this year, while Gemel Smith rounds out their top three with 15 goals and 21 assists, giving him 36 points in 43 games.

The Comets finally have a number that isn’t one to start off their next stat! The team has gone 2-7-1-0 over their previous 10 games, while the Bruins show a record of 5-3-1-1 over that same span. The Bruins are coming off of a 4-3 loss to Bridgeport, while the Comets are coming off of that 4-0 shutout win over Hartford yesterday.

Utica will bring their road record of 14-17-3-2 into Providence today, while the Bruins have gone 23-7-4-1 at home this season.

It is a tale of two teams as far as goal differential is concerned as the Comets have been outscored by a 246-210 margin this year, while the Bruins have outscored their competition by a count on 216-198.

The two clubs have squared off just one time this season with the Comets coming away with a 5-2 win.

Much like in the AHL standings, the Bruins have come out on top in the special teams department for the season series. The Bruins have gone 1/6 on the power play against Utica, giving them a success rate of 16.7%, while they killed off all three penalties that they gave up to the Comets for a 100% success rate on the kill. The Comets power play obviously shows a big fat zero for a success rate on the power play, while putting up a success rate of 83.3% on the kill.

Reid Boucher has been the big point producer in this series, picking up three points in the one game played. Brendan Gaunce and Jaime Sifers each picked up a pair of points, while several players from each team grabbed one.

Only one netminder was needed for each team and Thatcher Demko was the man between the pipes for Utica. Demko posted a record of 1-0 while putting up a 2.00 goals-against average and a 0.939% save percentage.

The Bruins, for their part, used Zane McIntyre and the goalie went 0-1 while posting a GAA of 4.11 and a 0.840% save percentage.

The two clubs will get underway at 3:05 pm Eastern/12:05 pm Pacific in Providence. As always, stay tuned for the CanucksArmy post-game report following today’s action.