Utica Comets Week in Review: February 6th – 12th

7 years ago

Photo Credit: Utica Comets / Lindsay A. Mogle

As mentioned previously here, the Comets have been nothing if not streaky this year, alternating between extended winning and losing streaks going back months now. They’re still in a down stretch, having lost five of their last six games (at least, up until last night’s win over the Marlies).

One thing that made last week’s games pretty watchable was the four game stint that Brendan Gaunce spent in the American League. He’s already back up with the Canucks and it’s no wonder why – Gaunce was easily the Comets best and most dangerous player in the week he spent there. Read on to find out more about Gaunce’s Utica vacation, and everything else that happened to the Comets last week.

The Games

February 7th at Toronto: 4 – 2 Loss

February 10th vs Toronto: 6 – 4 Loss

February 11th at Springfield: 2 – 1 Win

Springfield does not post highlight packs of their games, which is ridiculous. So here’s a clip of Curtis Valk scoring the 2-0 goal eight seconds after Brendan Gaunce opened the scoring (you can see that goal below). The kicker? Trevor Linden was in attendance for this game while the Canucks were on their Eastern road trip. Hard to watch a play like that and come to any other conclusion besides it’s time to sign Curtis Valk, right?

February 12th vs Syracuse: 3 – 2 Loss

Player of the Week

He was only on the team for a week, but Brendan Gaunce didn’t need any longer than that to show why he belongs in the NHL. For all the worries about the lack of offence at the NHL level so far, the 22-year old demonstrated that he’s conquered the American League already. His two goals and three points in four games aren’t off the charts by any stretch, but given the state of the Comets and who Gaunce was playing with, the three points are more than satisfactory.

Gaunce led all Comets players with 15 shots in four games, as AHL defences found it difficult to contain him. He was very physical, finishing his checks whenever possible and leveling a few opponents – including former teammate Frank Corrado in the Friday game.

Roster Report

Lines:

Injury Update:

Joe LaBate returned to action two days ago against the Toronto Marlies, after missing 17 games due to injury. Pascal Pelletier is currently out day-to-day, while Derek Dulak and John Negrin are out week-to-week.

Roster Moves:

The obvious moves were the reassignment and recall of Brendan Gaunce. Outside of that, the Comets roster hasn’t changed.

The Stats

Skaters:

As already mentioned, Brendan Gaunce had two goals and an assist in four games, and led the team in shot on goal.
Curtis Valk also had a three point week, with a goal and two assists. Valk added 12 shots on net, and he continues to lead the Comets in that regard.
Borna Rendulic had a goal and an assist last week. His point totals are slowly reaching respectability, as he was up to five goals and nine points at the conclusion of last week.
Evan McEneny grabbed a pair of assists last week to continue his suddenly blossoming production. At the end of the week, he was up to 11 points on the now season, now officially outpacing Jake Virtanen. McEneny also put 14 shots on net in four games last week, which is outstanding for a defenceman, and trailed on Brendan Gaunce for the team lead.
Andrey Pedan’s offence has been slow to arrive this season. He scored a goal last week, just his third of the campaign. Pedan has spent a lot of time on the Canucks roster this season (though of course he hasn’t played), and offence isn’t a strength of his game, but a few more counting stats would be nice to see – and maybe finally encourage the Canucks to try him in the NHL lineup.
Jordan Subban had one assist in three games last week, as his production tends to ebb and flow. Yes, he was a healthy scratch, but that really shouldn’t be considered news anymore. It’s the American League and everyone gets rested sometimes, especially durring three-in-threes, not to mention the fact that the Comets are playing 10 games in 16 nights.
Michael Carcone also had one assist in three games. He was a healthy scratch once, as the addition of Brendan Gaunce to the roster meant that some forwards had to rotate out of the lineup.
Jake Virtanen had another week without any points, though he did put 11 shots on net. It wouldn’t be wrong to consider Virtanen snakebit, given just how many shots he generates and how little he’s been scoring. The goals will come eventually.
Recently the Comets have found Virtanen a new niche as the entryman on the first power play unit. Virtanen is being used as a sort of running back and after a series of drop passes he attacks the line at full speed before circling the net and feeding the point. While we’ve heard reports of Virtanen getting back into shape, this play is one of the greatest visual examples of it, as the speed Virtanen is generating makes it very difficult to contain him, making this zone entry strategy a routinely successful one.
Mike Zalewski, Ashton Sautner and Cole Cassels each had zero points last week in varying amounts of games. Zalewski played all four contests, while Sautner was a healthy scratch one, and Cassels was scratched twice. The addition of Gaunce bumped everyone down, with Zalewski taking Cassels spot centering the fourth line. When Cassels got back into the lineup, he did so on the second line, taking an injured Pascal Pelletier’s spot and centering Cody Kunyk and Jake Virtanen.

Goalies:

#	Player	GS	Record	TOI	GA	SA	Sv%	GAA
30	T. Demko	2	0-2-0	117.03	8	47	0.830	4.10
32	R. Bachman	2	1-1-0	118.18	5	57	0.912	2.54

Thatcher Demko’s rookie struggles continued last week, as he posted consecutive save percentages under .850. In his last ten starts, dating back to his recall to, and reassignment from, the NHL, Demko has posted save percentages above .900 just three times. His save rate on the season, which peaked at 0.914 in early December, is now down to an ugly .895.

The struggles may be weighing on him, as he’s being beaten on shots with clean sight lines, shots that have no business going past him. The good news is, he mixes these bad goals in with spectacular saves. The athleticism that made him such a highly touted college netminder is still there, and as with many goalies making the leap from college to American League hockey, he’s a work in progress.

Meanwhile, Richard Bachman has largely been providing steady goaltending. His season save percentage peaked at .913 in late January and has dipped a bit since then, but he has kept the Comets in most games that he has played in. Which is unfortunately more than I can say for Demko at this point.

Team Level:

The Comets’ penalty kill, which had become one of the team’s greatest strengths in the past couple of months, came completely undone in the two games against Toronto last week, allowing a ridiculous six goals against in just seven opportunities. The single goal they allowed in Springfield was also of the power play variety. All told, their penalty kill succeeded just 46.2% of the time during last week’s games.

Their power play operated at a 14.3% clip, going 2-for-14 in four games. The first and second units each accounted for a single goal, with Archibald and Rendulic counting the tallies.

Looking Ahead

The standings above were retrieved on Wednesday prior to victory over the Marlies. While beating Toronto, a team not far above them in the standings, is a step in the right direction, the Comets still have their work cut out for them after a couple of weeks without much winning.

For their remaining games this week, the Comets will take on the Springfield Thunderbirds again, before hosting the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on Sunday. The Thunderbirds are a team in a similar position to the Comets, while the Phantoms are substantially higher in the league standings.