4:00 pm Pacific

The AHL’s 30th ranked Belleville Senators, (Ottawa affiliate), rolled into Utica today to take on the eighth overall Comets for game number 57 of Utica’s season. The Comets had 68 points to Belleville’s 46 coming into the day.

The Sens had the league’s 26th ranked power play, operating at 14.4%, while their penalty kill was 29th in the league with a 77.3% effective rate. The Comets, for their part, had the league’s fourth-best power play and penalty kill, operating at 19.9% and 85.4% respectively.

For the Senators, rookie Filip Chlapik led both the active forward group and the rookies with 23 points in 43 games this season. Their blueline was led by Ville Pokka with 24 points in 52 games played. Reid Boucher was the Comets points leader with 45 points in 42 games this season, while Patrick Wiercioch led the Comets blueline with 26 points in 40 games. With Philip Holm now plying his trade with the Chicago Wolves after his trade, we can remove the *active asterisk from Wiercioch. Zack MacEwen led the Comets rookie crew with 30 points in 51 games played this season. MacEwen has proven that he can not only put up respectable numbers in his rookie season but also that he is a durable player. Only fellow rookie, Guillaume Brisebois with 53, has played more than MacEwen’s 51 games this season.

The Sens were coming off a 4-1 loss to Binghamton and had gone 2-8-0-0 over their previous 10 games, while the Comets were coming off of a 3-2 loss to Springfield and had gone 6-3-0-1 over their previous 10. The Sens brought a road record of 9-17-0-3 into today’s game, while the Comets were sporting a home record of 12-12-3-3.

Utica had outscored their opposition by a count of 166-159 this season, while the Sens had been outscored 213-141 by their competition. The two clubs had faced off three times this season with the Comets holding a 3-0 lead in the series, having outscored Belleville 16-8.

In other Comets news, the team made a few roster moves over the last week. First up, goaltender Michael Garteig was returned to Kalamazoo, while defenseman Mathieu Brodeur was released from his PTO.

Justin Taylor, who had been with the team on a PTO, was also released.

The parent Canucks did their due diligence and “papered” Nikolay Goldobin and newcomer Tyler Motte to Utica so that the pair will be eligible to join the Comets for a playoff push/run.

And finally, the Comets decided to add another forward on a PTO. With three games in three days this weekend and a mother of a storm in their area, it could have made it tricky to bring someone in if needed, so the Comets were picking up some early insurance. The newest addition to the team is forward Zac Lynch. Lynch has been playing with the Manchester Monarchs of the ECHL this season, putting up 45 points in 55 games before being summoned by the Comets. You can read more about the Lynch signing in the link below.

Scratched today for the Comets were: Carter Bancks, (injured), Jayson Megna, (injured), Yan-Pavel Laplante, (injured), Brendan Woods, (injured), Cam Darcy, (injured), Joe LaBate, (injured), Evan McEneny, (injured), Frankie Simonelli, and Zac Lynch.

58 Michael Carcone – 19 Cole Cassels – 15 Zack MacEwen

24 Reid Boucher – 21 Michael Chaput (A) – 27 Tony Cameranesi

22 David Dziurzynski – 36 Wacey Hamilton (A) – 17 Alexis D’Aoust

44 Adam Comrie – 82 Andrew Cherniwchan – 13 Griffen Molino

6 Ashton Sautner – 8 Dylan Blujus

28 Patrick Wiercioch – 5 Jalen Chatfield

55 Guillaume Brisebois – 26 Jaime Sifers (A)

32 Richard Bachman

The Comets started this game with a newly formed line of Michael Carcone, Cole Cassels, and Zack MacEwen. I have to say, this is a line that I think should play well together and I hope to see them stay together for a bit.

The two clubs had some good back and forth early with Andrew Cherniwchan stepping over the Belleville blueline with a low, hard shot that Sens netminder Danny Taylor stopped and held onto for a whistle. At the other end of the ice, Maxime Lajoie unloaded with a wrister from the point that Richard Bachman denied, and he too held on for a faceoff.

Dylan Blujus sent a knuckler on the net that Taylor had trouble with before Cole Cassels grabbed the puck for a wraparound chance that Taylor turned aside. Patrick Sieloff had a chance in the Comets end, sending a wrister Bachman’s way that the netminder turned aside. Max Reinhart followed up with a low shot and Bachman said no.

Reid Boucher found himself on a partial break created off of a turnover, but Taylor came up with a diving save to keep the game knotted at zero.

The Comets would end up shorthanded when Ashton Sautner was whistled for slashing at the 9:31 mark. The Comets have the fourth best kill in the league and it showed against the league’s 26th ranked power play. The Sens didn’t even breach the Comets zone in the first 30 seconds and before the penalty would end, Michael Chaput would have a scoring chance. The Chaput chance came off of a Wacey Hamilton forced turnover. Hamilton sent Chaput in, but Taylor was ready with a save.

The Sens would get a scoring chance when Colin White put a puck on the net with a scramble in front just as the penalty ended, but Bachman was ready again.

Patrick Wiercioch came looking for more points, getting a shot through traffic that Taylor turned aside. At the other end of the ice, rookie defenseman Guillaume Brisebois showed his defensive side when he hustled back to break up a scoring chance that came off a Jaime Sifers turnover. Brisebois used his frame to separate the Sens player from the puck in the Comets end and helped get the Comets heading back the other way.

Jalen Chatfield dished a nice feed to Zack MacEwen along the blueline for a one-timer chance. MacEwen doesn’t use that one-timer often, but I think I’d like to see it more. Taylor whipped out the mitt to make the save, but MacEwen had something on that shot.

Andrew Cherniwchan would send the Comets back to the penalty kill at the 14:38 mark when he was sent off for holding the stick. Bachman would come up with a pair of saves from in close, as the Comets were having a hard time clearing the puck. When they finally did, it was Chaput sending Hamilton away for a chance that Taylor swallowed up. The Comets would come up with a good kill.

Utica would have a brief power play of their own when Ethan Werek was whistled for slashing at the 16:36 mark. I say the power play was brief because after Ben Sexton had one shorthanded chance turned aside, he came back for another. This time Patrick Wiercioch was hooking him, to slow him down and the official had his arm raised in the air.

During the four-on-four play, Nick Paul let fly with a shot that Bachman gobbled up for a whistle. Colin White would get a hot shot away, but he sent it wide and the Comets finished up with a good kill.

That was it for the opening period that saw the Comets show a 12-10 edge on the shot clock.

David Dziurzynski has been playing well of late for the Comets and he showed some nice passing skills when he sent a cross-ice feed to Wacey Hamilton, who sent his shot wide of the net. At the other end of the ice, Gabriel Gagne got a quick shot away off a faceoff win in the Comets zone, but Bachman was ready with the save.

Gagne would have the last laugh though when he came right back a blew a shot over the glove of Bachman to put the Sens up 1-0 at the 3:32 mark. The goal was Gagne’s 17th of the season, while Daniel Ciampini earned his sixth assist of the season on the play.

The Sens put on some good pressure after the goal before the Comets put on a little heat of their own. First, it was Jaime Sifers sending a shot on net that was redirected, Taylor said no. Wacey Hamilton followed up with a tip attempt of his own, but once again, Taylor had his number.

Reid Boucher and Tony Cameranesi went in on a two-on-one play that saw Boucher take the shot and Taylor flash the leather for the save. Taylor was playing well today.

Gagne came back looking for more, ripping a shot on net, only to see Bachman go around the world for the glove save. Bacher followed up with a pair of back-to-back saves from in close.

Jalen Chatfield let loose with a shot but saw it denied. Chatfield has yet to score this season, but it looks like it will only be a matter of time before the fleet-footed defenseman buries one. The Comets followed up the Chatfield chance with a solid shift from the Chaput line. They had some good zone time but were unable to capitalize.

Colin White came down the other way and ripped a shot off the crossbar. Bachman was playing well in this one, but he wasn’t about to turn down some help from his posts.

At the other end, Andrew Cherniwchan just missed tying the game at one when he took the puck hard to the net, cutting quickly to the crease, but Taylor read his play and was ready with the save.

Jalen Chatfield was sent in by Chaput for a chance as he used his wheels to blow past a Sens defender, only to see his shot denied. Michael Carcone followed up by hitting MacEwen for a chance but the puck went off the blade of Zack’s stick.

The Comets would get another chance with the man advantage at the 14:58 mark when Filip Chlapik was whistled for hooking. Reid Boucher would set up Michael Chaput for a one-timer, but once again, Taylor said no. Cole Cassels and Andreas Englund made acquaintances at the 16:14 mark for a brief hugfest of a fight and each would be assessed five minutes for fighting.

Zack MacEwen sent a one-timer feed to Griffen Molino, who fanned on his chance before Reid Boucher was shut down once again by Taylor. Have I mentioned yet that Taylor was having a good game? The Comets would not be able to solve the Taylor riddle on this power play and we were back playing with five skaters aside.

Skating at five aside would be short-lived, however, as Wacey Hamilton was sent off for slashing at the 19:07 mark. Filip Chlapik would get a good point shot away that Bachman turned aside before time would run out on the period.

The Comets were up 10-9 for the period in shots, but found themselves in a 1-0 hole and facing a hot goaltender.

The Comets started the third period shorthanded, but they would kill off the Hamilton minor and get back to skating on even terms, but not before Bachman made a big save with a crowd forming as the penalty expired.

Ashton Sautner doesn’t put up a pile of goals, but the man is not afraid to shoot the puck. He sent a heavy shot on net early that Taylor steered over the glass. Alexis D’Aoust was engaged in a puck battle, as he is known to do, and he came away with the puck, charging hard to the net and dragging the puck along with him, but Danny Taylor denied the rookie of a goal.

Adam Comrie would be sent off for roughing after a board-battle between the player’s benches at the 4:20 mark and the Comets were back to the kill. Reid Boucher found himself on his second shorthanded two-on-one of the game, this time with David Dziurzynski. Boucher elected once again to shoot and Taylor got a piece of it. Boucher was left looking frustrated after the play.

The game’s only goal scorer, Gabriel Gagne was sent off for holding at the six-minute mark and the two teams would play some four-on-four hockey for 20 seconds. Once those 20 seconds came off the clock, the Comets would have a man advantage for 1:40, during which, Reid Boucher would hammer a puck off the iron and the thousand or so Utica fans who braved the weather to get into the building today groaned in unison with the Comets’ sniper.

The Comets would ring another shot off the iron after the power play ended, but it occurred as the game was coming out of a commercial break, so I can’t say for certain which Comets’ player the shot came from.

Nick Moutrey came in with a shot on Bachman and the Comets netminder turned his shot aside. Moments later, Moutrey was at it again, letting fly with a shot from the slot but Bachman stymied him again.

Griffen Molino was having another good game today, even if the points weren’t coming for him. He set up Cherniwchan for a quick shot from in close, but the Cherniwchan offering was partially blocked and the puck trickled to a waiting Taylor.

Colin White came at Bachman with a high shot that the netminder gloved down and held for the whistle.

Michael Carcone dished to Zack MacEwen for a quick shot that Taylor denied. Carcone followed up with a wrister that Taylor also got a piece of before Sautner and Cameranesi had back to back chances turned aside.

Bachman was forced into a save off a quick shot and he held for the faceoff in the Comets zone.

Carcone was using his wheels, skating around the Sens’ net and getting a shot away that was blocked before it could get to the net. Cameranesi followed up with a shot of his own that Taylor grabbed onto and held as David Dziurzynski was lurking. At the other end, Bachman came up with another save off a hot shot and held for the whistle. Mike Blunden followed up that chance with a backhander that Bachman was ready for.

With time winding down, Maxime Lajoie was whistled for tripping and the Comets would get a late power play at the 18:31 mark. The Comets would pull Bachman for the extra attacker. Patrick Wiercioch got a point shot away that was blocked before Adam Comrie took the Comets off the power play with a slashing call to keep the Sens from scoring an empty net goal. The Comrie penalty came at the 18:49 mark and the Comets power play was short-lived.

Bachman would go back in for the faceoff and would have to make a save off a Patrick Sieloff one-timer before heading back to the bench with a minute left in the period. With the Comets net empty, rookie Zack MacEwen did his best Alex Edler impersonation when he made a kick save to keep the Sens from burying an empty net goal.

At the other end, Cole Cassels dished to Boucher, who ripped a shot on net and Taylor once again had his number. The Comets would call their timeout with 20.7 seconds remaining, but they were unable to come up with an answer as they dropped their fourth straight game for the first time this season and were also shut out for the first time this year. Utica finished with a 10-8 advantage in shots for the third period and outshot the Sens by a count of 32-27 for the game.

The Three Stars in the building today were:

3rd Star. Richard Bachman. 27 saves.

2nd Star. Gabriel Gagne. One goal

1st Star. Danny Taylor. 32 saves

3rd Star: Griffen Molino. Molino didn’t pick up any points today, but then again, nobody else on the Comets did either. The rookie has six points in 8 games since returning from injury and he has been playing well. He is using his speed to get in on the forecheck and to help make some plays in the offensive zone. He saw some brief power play time today as well.

2nd Star: Ashton Sautner. When folks talk about the defence in Utica this year, all the talk has been about the departed Philip Holm, rookies Guillaume Brisebois and Jalen Chatfield, and sometimes Patrick Wiercioch. I think that Ashton Sautner is being sold a little short by not being talked about nearly as much. Sautner is not a big point producer, but he does supply some secondary offence from the back end. He isn’t flashy, but he gets the job done. I wouldn’t mind seeing Sautner get a look up top at some point, just so he, and the team, can get a feel for where he is at against stiffer competition.

1st Star: Richard Bachman. Bachman put up 27 saves on 28 shots and made his share of nice saves in this one. He has been on a nice run of late but has now lost his last two contests. You can’t really hang those losses on him, however. Bachman gives his team a chance to win and gives Demko a chance to rest up and work on the extra details in practice while he is a bit of a losing skid of his own. With the Comets playing again tomorrow and Sunday, it is entirely possible that we see Bachman play again this weekend.

4:00 pm Pacific