4:05 pm Pacific

The 16th overall Utica Comets hit the road to Rochester today to take on the 14th ranked Americans, (Buffalo affiliate) for the Comets 68th game of the season. The two clubs sat just two points apart as the Comets had 76 points coming into the day, while the Americans had 78 points to show for their season’s efforts.

The Comets power play was ranked 14th in the AHL coming into the day, operating at 17.9%, while their penalty kill remained strong, sitting second in the league with an 86.3% effective rate. The Americans showed the AHL’s eighth-best power play, operating at 18.6%, while their penalty kill was the league’s third-best, running at 85.3%.

Michael Chaput had the points lead amongst active Comets players with 35 in 48 games this season, while Patrick Wiercioch had leap-frogged Zack MacEwen into second spot on the list with 33 points in 51 games. MacEwen sat third with 32 points in 62 games this season.

C.J. Smith was the points leader for Rochester with 43 in 54 games this season, while defender Zach Redmond was second with 42 points in 59 games. Kevin Porter rounded out the top three with 39 points in 61 games.

The Comets were coming off of a 4-3 win over Binghamton, while the Americans last played to a 4-2 win over Springfield. Utica had a road record of 19-10-3-1 this season, while Rochester had a record of 15-12-2-3 at home this year.

The Comets had gone 4-6-0-0 over their previous 10 games, while the Americans had gone 4-5-1-0 over the same span. Rochester had outscored their opponents by a count of 203-193 this season, while the Comets had given up 194 goals while scoring 188.

The two clubs had squared off nine times already this season with the Comets showing a six-games-to-three advantage in the season series. No fewer than six of the nine games were decided in overtime or the shootout.

In other Comets news, the club announced that goaltender Michael Gartieg had been returned to Kalamazoo after spending the previous three games backing up in Utica. With Richard Bachman under the weather for the first two games, Garteig was needed to back up Thatcher Demko. I will take the risk of making the assumption that he was kept around for game three in order to give Demko a rest after a busy couple of games.

Scratched today for the Comets were: Yan-Pavel Laplante, (injured), Joe LaBate, (injured), Brendan Woods, (injured), Jayson Megna, (injured), Evan McEneny, (injured), Cam Darcy, (injured), Tony Cameranesi, (injured), Vincent Arseneau, (illness), and Adam Comrie.

7 Tanner MacMaster – 21 Michael Chaput – 15 Zack MacEwen

82 Andrew Cherniwchan – 10 Matt Leitner – 34 Carter Bancks (C)

13 Griffen Molino – 19 Cole Cassels – 17 Alex D’Aoust

58 Michael Carcone – 36 Wacey Hamilton (A) – 39 Zac Lynch

55 Guillaume Brisebois – 26 Jaime Sifers (A)

28 Patrick Wiercioch – 5 Jalen Chatfield

8 Dylan Blujus – 29 Frankie Simonelli

30 Thatcher Demko

The opening period seemed to go by fairly quickly, but there was not a ton of action.

Thatcher Demko kicked things off with a pair of saves early. The first was a point shot that he turned aside with the blocker before denying a Zach Redmond shot from the other side. Demko followed up with another pair of saves, first up, he grabbed up an Andrew MacWilliam offering and held for the whistle before gobbling up a bomb from Redmond.

MacWilliam would be the first player sent to the box in the opening frame when he was whistled for tripping at the 3:43 mark. The Comets would roll through two separate power play units and neither could take advantage. Guillaume Brisebois and Michael Chaput each had shots blocked but that was as close as the team would come to getting something through to the net.

Coming off of the penalty kill, Justin Bailey let fly with a shot that Demko was ready for and the Comets netminder turned it aside.

Adam Krause was sent off for tripping at the 8:38 mark and the Comets were back to the power play. This time Utica would make it count. Frankie Simonelli took a Michael Chaput pass and ripped a shot on net that looked to be tipped on the way through. The puck beat Rochester goaltender Adam Wilcox and the Comets were up 1-0. The goal was credited to Simonelli for his second of the season, while Chaput earned his 22nd assist of the year and Patrick Wiercioch picked up his 25th.

Jalen Chatfield came looking for his first goal of the season when he sent a wrister on the net right after the goal, but Wilcox said no.

Alex D’Aoust hasn’t had much luck on the scoresheet of late, but he continues to impress me with his hard, heavy game and ample wheels. D’Aoust tracked down a Rochester forward who had a good headstart on him and he erased him into the boards in front of the Comets bench to cause a turnover. Keep it up, Alex.

Eric Cornell came into the Comets zone and sent a backhander Demko’s way that the Comets netminder stopped and held for the whistle. As I said, this was not an action-packed period of hockey.

Jaime Sifers sent a floater on net from the point and Wilcox grabbed it up and held for the whistle with a crowd forming. Sean Malone came back the other way with a chance of his own that Demko was ready for and then Thatcher made another save off of the resulting rebound.

Wacey Hamilton was sent off for both tripping and slashing at the 18:34 mark and he received two minutes in the box for each offence. Demko would come up with a pair of saves to close out the period.

The Americans showed a 10-4 advantage on the shot clock for the opening frame.

The second period got underway with the Comets still looking to kill off 3:35 of the Wacey Hamilton penalty. Demko would make a save on a Taylor Fedun point shot before swallowing up a Zach Redmond one-timer. Thatcher would come up with another save on a Stuart Percy offering before Redmond tied the game with his 14th goal of the season. Danny O’Regan picked up his 22nd assist of the season on the play, while Sahir Gill earned his 21st.

Griffen Molino and Cole Cassels followed up by breaking into the Rochester zone with speed. Molino hit Cassels with a pass and Cole got his shot off but Wilcox gobbled it up for the whistle.

Rochester came with the pressure for a couple of shifts, hemming the Comets in their own zone for an extended period before Justin Bailey was whistled for a high-stick.

The Comets power play would not manage a single shot on net.

Guillaume Brisebois made a rookie mistake and turned over a puck in close to Demko. Colin Blackwell grabbed the puck and ripped a shot on net, but Demko was equal to the task.

Jaime Sifers hits like a truck and he had Hudson Fasching checking for licence plates after mowing him over in the neutral zone.

Demko came up with a pad save on a point shot to follow up the Sifers hit.

At the other end of the ice, Tanner MacMaster made a nifty move to spin off a check to get a shot away, but Wilcox was ready with the save.

Hudson Fasching must have still been seeing stars from the Sifers hit because he tried to engage Sifers’ defence partner on the way to the bench but the officials got involved when Brisebois gave Fasching a poke back. Both men went to their own bench and managed to stay out of the box.

Arvin Atwal fired a shot on the Comets net and Demko grabbed it and held for the whistle. When the play was heading out of the Comets zone, a point shot came that rang off the pipe behind Demko. I couldn’t tell who it was who unloaded the shot.

Justin Bailey was sent off for a double minor after getting a stick up that drew blood. Tanner MacMaster had a pair of chances denied before he drew another penalty on Stuart Percy, who was also sent off for a high-stick.

The Percy penalty would give the Comets a five-on-three man advantage for a full two minutes. Trent Cull called his timeout and the team came up with a game plan.

Wiercicoch had a shot tipped wide before Michael Chaput blew a one-timer past Wilcox to put the Comets up 2-1. The goal was Chaput’s 15th of the season, while Frankie Simonelli picked up his first helper of the year on the play and Patrick Wiercioch earned his 26th.

Right after the Chaput goal, Seth Griffith looked like he may have scored on a breakaway, but he ripped the puck off the iron. Former Comets defender, Taylor Fedun followed up with a point shot that Demko was ready for.

Andrew Cherniwchan won a foot race to a loose puck going the other way and got a shot off but Wilcox was equal to the task.

Michael Carcone was sent off for goaltender interference at the 19:00-minute mark and the Comets would finish out the middle frame a man down. Jalen Chatfield came up with a big shot block before Demko turned aside a one-timer to end the period.

The shot clock favoured Rochester by a count of 10-8 for the second period.

The Comets started the period with one-minute remaining on the Carcone penalty and they would kill it off. Unfortunately, Jaime Sifers was whistled for cross-checking at the 3:27 mark and the Comets were right back to the kill.

It took Seth Griffith less than 20 seconds to tie the game at two when he dug a puck out the crowd in Demko’s crease and put it behind the netminder for his 15th goal of the season. Colin Blackwell earned his 23rd helper of the year on the play, while Kevin Porter picked up his 24th.

With the game now knotted at two, the teams would have a little bit of back and forth.

Wacey Hamilton centred the puck to Zac Lynch in the slot for a one-timer that Wilcox denied before Zach Redmond went the other way for a wrister that Demko gloved down for the whistle. Stuart Percy saw his shot turned aside by Demko as well before Thatcher lost his stick and made another blocker save while holding a defender’s stick.

Zack MacEwen pounced on a loose puck and took a few quick steps before putting a shot on net that Wilcox was ready for. The big fella showed that quick burst of speed again. Keep it coming, Zack.

Justin Bailey was up next with a pair of chances, first trying his luck with a wraparound that Demko denied before Bailey came charging back in with another shot that Thatcher stopped as well. Demko’s rebound control has been good of late.

Thatcher was staring down Zach Redmond next, this time as the defender jumped on a loose puck at the Comets blueline that he ripped on the net. Thatcher once again said no.

Griffen Molino showed his wheels when he came back quickly on a backcheck to break up a scoring chanced in the Comets zone to send the puck the other way.

We already saw Jaime Sifers rock Hudson Fasching in this one and he did more of the same to Sahir Gill when he stood the Rochester pivot up and sent him reeling to the ice. Sahir peeled himself off the ice surface and staggered back to the bench.

MacEwen was at it again, going hard to the Rochester net with a power move and whipping out a dirty little dangle to get a shot away. His shot didn’t get through, but he flipped the rebound into the crease where Tanner MacMaster nearly popped it in. Keep those power moves coming, big fella…and don’t leave out those nifty dangles.

Alex D’Aoust jumped on a rebound that came off a Dylan Blujus chance and he put it on net. Wilcox said no. Jaime Sifers followed up with another chance and Wilcox denied him as well.

Danny O’Regan and Zack MacEwen traded chances as O’Regan sent a shot on Demko from the right side that Thatcher blockered to the corner before MacEwen went the other way with a shot of his own from the right side. Wilcox was ready once more.

Justin Bailey fired a wrister at Demko that the Comets netminder stopped, but the puck fell in his crease and just laid there until one of his defenders cleared it out of harm’s way.

Cole Cassels hit Carter Bancks with a pass and the captain let fly with a shot from just inside the Rochester blueline that Wilcox denied and we were off to overtime. What a shocker, another game between the two clubs that would require extra time.

The Americans showed a 13-6 advantage on the shot clock for the third period.

The two clubs would go back and forth during the extra frame but Rochester would not muster a shot. Zack MacEwen would though, making another power move to the net, but Wilcox denied him yet again. Michael Chaput would win it with a shot that almost looked like it didn’t go in. The Chaput shot went off the centre bar in the back of the net and came right back out. The goal was Chaput’s second of the game and 16th of the season. It was an unassisted marker.

The Comets finished the overtime frame with a 4-0 advantage on the shot clock, while the Americans had a 33-22 in shots for the game.

The Three Stars in the building today were:

3rd Star: Zach Redmond. One goal.

2nd Star: Patrick Wiercioch. Two assists.

1st Star: Michael Chaput. Two goals, one assist. Overtime winner.

3rd Star: Frankie Simonelli. Simonelli is one of the many, many players who has joined Utica on a PTO deal this season. He has now played six games with the club and after going scoreless in his first four contests, he now has three points in his last two games. The Comets have managed to get secondary scoring out of a lot of their PTO players this year, which goes to show how well the management, coaching staff and players have done this season while eating up players like candy.

2nd Star: Patrick Wiercioch. Wiercioch has surpassed Philip Holm for points this season, and in fewer games played. The lanky defender now has nine goals and 26 helpers on the year to give him 35 points in 52 games. He also has nine points in his last nine games.

1st Star: Michael Chaput. Chaput has cranked it up a notch of late, picking up seven points in his last four outings. He is already playing playoff hockey for the Comets. He now has 38 points in 49 games this season…that is good for 0.78 points per game. Mikey Chaps has been the Comets most consistent pivot this season and I feel like he will be an important piece for the club in the playoffs.

4:00 pm Pacific