Utica Week In Review: November 16th

The Utica Comets first trip to the MassMutual Center did not go well, as the hometown Springfield Falcons beat the Comets 6-3 on Friday night. Hunter Shinkaruk scored his 10thgoal of the season, which moved him into a tie with Frank Vatrano of the Providence Bruins for the league-lead in goals.

Nicklas Jensen (1-0-1), and Carter Bancks (1-0-1) also scored for Utica, while Richard Bachman made 28 saves in his first game as a member of the Comets. Linden Vey (0-2-2) enjoyed a two-point night with two assists.

Springfield Falcons’ leading goal-scorer, Dustin Jeffrey, opened the game’s scoring with a power-play goal 5:40 into the game.

Not even 30 seconds later the game was tied back up thanks to Nicklas Jensen. In his first game back from an upper-body injury, Jensen ripped a wrist shot over the shoulder of Falcons’ netminder, Louis Domingue, from the top of the circle, while on a two-on-two rush. Vey and Alex Biega recorded assists on the goal.

From there the game was all Springfield, as they scored the game’s next five goals. Keith Aulie and Greg Carey teamed up to kick off the Falcons scoring bonanza with a goal apiece in a 30 second span to give the Falcons a 3-1 lead with 5:29 left in the first. Eric Selleck capitalized on a Comets defensive zone turnover for the team’s fourth goal.

Jeffrey continued to punish his former team when he ended a three-on-two rush with a wrist shot that beat Bachman’s glove for his second goal of the game. The goal was the only goal scored in the second period.

Ross Mauermann extended the Falcons lead to 6-1, with a tally just two minutes into the final frame.

The Comets stopped the bleeding with a goal of their own when Bancks jammed home his first goal of the season 2:51 in the third period. The goal was unassisted.

Shinkaruk tapped home a back door feed for his league-leading 10th goal of the season 7:14 into the final period. The goal, a power-play goal, was assisted by Alexandre Grenier and Vey.

Despite outshooting the Syracuse Crunch 48-28, the Utica Comets lost 2-1 Saturday night at the War Memorial at the OnCenter. The Galaxy Cup series is now knotted at two points apiece.

Michael Zalewski (1-0-1) scored his third goal in four games, while Joe Cannata made 26 saves in the loss for the Comets.

It took over 30 minutes of game time for the scoreless tie to be broken. Syracuse Crunch’s Nikita Nesterov let loose a slap shot from the point that Cannata gathered up. A split-second later the puck trickled out from the goaltender’s equipment and behind him. Joel Vermin pounced on the loose puck to stake the Crunch to an early 1-0 lead.

90 seconds later Zalewski erased the Crunch’s lead with his third goal of the season. From just inside the blue line, Zalewski unleashed a slap shot that whizzed by Kristers Gudlevskis before the goaltender even had a chance to move. Andrey Pedan, and Taylor Fedun recorded assists on the goal.

The Crunch regained their lead just a minute into the third period when Matthew Peca walked the puck out from the corner, weaved around a Comets defender and slipped a wrist shot under the glove of Cannata.