Game #33

Vs Binghamton Devils

Saturday, December 22nd, 2018

7:00 pm Eastern/4:00 pm Pacific

The 23rd overall Binghamton Devils, (New Jersey affiliate) rolled into Utica today to take on the 12th ranked Comets for game number 33 of the season. The Devils were showing a record of 13-16-3-0 coming into today’s contest, giving them 29 points on the season. The Comets, for their part, had a record of 16-13-2-1 to give themselves 35 points so far this year.

Binghamton had been outscored 114-89 by their opponents this season, while the Comets had given up 110 goals and had scored 101 times. The Comets were coming off of a 2-1 win over Springfield, while the Devils last played to a 6-3 win over Providence.

The Comets were showing a home record of 7-7-0-0 so far this season, while the Devils had gone 4-10-2-0 on the road. Binghamton had gone 4-6-0-0 over their previous 10 contests, while the Comets had gone 7-2-1-0 over that same span.

Marian Studenic was the Devils leading scorer amongst their rookie group with nine goals and 10 helpers to give himself 19 points in 27 games this year. Jonathan Dahlen was the leader for the Comets rookies with 17 points in 28 games played.

Reid Boucher was the top dog in Utica with 15 goals and 12 assists, giving him 27 points in 21 games. Zack MacEwen sat second on the back of 13 goals and 12 helpers, giving him 25 points in 31 games this year. Tanner Kero rounded out the Comets top three with nine goals and 16 assists to give himself 25 points in 32 games.

With John Quenneville called up to New Jersey, Studenic’s 19 points were enough to lead the Bingo roster, while Blake Pietila sat second with nine goals and nine helpers to give himself 18 points in 30 games. Michael McLeod rounded out their top three with five goals and 13 assists, giving him 18 points in 30 games.

With Richard Bachman leaving yesterday’s game with an injury, the Comets had to find someone to backup Thatcher Demko for today’s game. It would appear that the club has brought goaltender Devin Buffalo on board to be that man today. I would imagine that the Buffalo addition will be via PTO/EBUG, (professional tryout/emergency backup goalie) and that if Bachman is going to be out for any length of time that we will see a recall of Ivan Kulbakov before next weekend’s three games in three days adventure.

Buffalo had actually only played for the Greenville Swamp Rabbits this season, giving up 14 goals in three games, but he was with the Adirondack Thunder at the time of his loan to Utica.

*Edit*

Since the above was written, the Comets announced the signing of Buffalo to a PTO as well as the recall of Ivan Kulbakov from Kalamazoo. Kulbakov has appeared in eight games for Kalamazoo, posting a goals-against average of 3.41 and a save percentage of 0.915. Buffalo would be the backup tonight as there was concern that Kulbakov might not make it for game time. Kulbalkov was later seen with the rest of the scratched players by Ben Birnell of the Utica Observer-Dispatch. 

Olli Juolevi, (out for regular season) Jalen Chatfield, (month-to-month) Ashton Sautner, (indefinite) Brendan Woods, (day-to-day) Wacey Hamilton, (day-to-day) Richard Bachman, (indefinite) Jonah Gadjovich, (day-to-day) Tanner MacMaster, and Colton Saucerman.

25 Darren Archibald (A) – 16 Brendan Gaunce – 15 Zack MacEwen

9 Lukas Jasek – 10 Tanner Kero- 24 Reid Boucher

34 Carter Bancks (C) – 11 Cam Darcy – 13 Kole Lind

 54Jonathan Dahlen – 27 Tony Cameranesi – 18 Vincent Arseneau

63 Jesse Graham – 26 Jaime Sifers (A)

55 Guillaume Brisebois – 2 Evan McEneny

4 Jagger Dirk – 8 Dylan Blujus

30 Thatcher Demko

33 Devin Buffalo (backing up)

This was another pretty good period of hockey to start a game for the Comets. We had some early back and forth before Guillaume Brisebois let fly with a shot that was gloved down for a whistle. Brisebois has been putting more shots toward the net of late.

At the other end of the ice, Thatcher Demko soaked up a Nathan Bastian shot and held for the whistle.

Kole Lind has been knocking on the door for his first goal and he had a couple of chances to bury one early. He came off the left side with a shot that went off the shoulder of goaltender Cam Johnson before Jonathan Dahlen went hard to the front of the net for a chance, but Tony Cameranesi couldn’t get the puck to him. It was nice to see Dahlen back in today after missing the last three with a concussion. It was also nice to see him heading hard to the front of the net.

Eric Gryba let fly with a shot that Demko steered over the glass and we had some more back and forth. Lind showed that he has value beyond goal scoring as he used some good hustle to beat out an icing call in the Devils end before Kurtis Gabriel came back the other way with a shot that went off Demko’s shoulder and rolled down his back, nearly ending up in the net. Thatcher has was beaten by one of those last game and wasn’t about to let that happen again.

Jagger Dirk continued to show well, alertly picking off an ill-advised pass through the Comets crease and sending it out of harm’s way. Dirk and Dylan Blujus have formed a pretty solid pairing for the Comets over the last few games. There are not a lot of goals scored in the Comets end when the duo is on the ice.

Jonathan Dahlen was sprung by Cameranesi for a break but his shot off the rush was denied by Johnson. Cameranesi hit Dahlen with another pass and Dahlen quickly dished to Vincent Arseneau. BigVinny went hard to the net with the puck, but no goal was to be found. The Comets were applying some nice pressure.

Boucher unloaded with a shot from the high slot and Johnson got a glove on it for another save. Demko then showed some nice stick work with a backhand pass off the boards to a defender, getting a Comets breakout going.

Kole Lind tipped a shot just wide of the net before Conor Riley put the Devils up 1-0 with his first goal of the season. Michael McLeod earned his 14th helper of the year on the play, while Brandon Baddock picked up his second. The goal was actually scored by Tony Cameranesi, however, as the Comets pivot tipped the Riley centering pass past his own goaltender.

Tanner Kero bailed Cameranesi out moments later when he beat Johnson for his 10th goal of the season to tie the game at one. Reid Boucher picked up his 13th helper of the year on the play for the lone assist.

With the game tied at one, Demko came up with another save before gobbling up a Brandon Gignac shot and holding for the whistle.

Brandon Baddock was whistled for hooking at the 19:13 mark and the Comets would have a late power play to work with. We saw Jesse Graham take Evan McEneny’s spot on the first unit. Dahlen got a one-timer away that was turned aside and the buzzer would go to end the period.

The Devils showed an 11-9 advantage on the shot clock in the first period.

The Comets were unable to get any traction with their man advantage to start the period before Demko had to steer a Brandon Gignac offering over the glass for a whistle. Kole Lind followed up with a chance off the right side but put his shot wide of the net. Keep shooting, Kole, the goals will come.

Jonathan Dahlen is good at finding open scoring lanes and he called for a pass from Tony Cameranesi while in one of those lanes, but found the Cameranesi pass behind him.

John Edwardh put his team up 2-1 when he snuck his first of the season past Demko with a nifty backhander. Kevin Rooney picked up his 11th helper of the year on the play, while Colby Sissons earned his seventh.

Demko followed up by getting a pad on a shot for another save before Lind showed some defensive chops with a nice takeaway in the Comets end.

Jagger Dirk is not afraid to jump into a scoring lane when he finds one and Lukas Jasek hit him with a nice feed on an odd-man rush, but Johnson was ready with another save. Archibald followed up with a shot off the left side that was soaked up for a whistle by the Devils netminder.

The Devils were dinged for having too-many-men on the ice at the 10:18 mark and the Comets had a power play. It took just 13 seconds for Reid Boucher to blow his 16th of the season past Johnson to tie the game at two. The play started with a Zack MacEwen takeaway and sweet feed to Kero, who hit Boucher for a bomb of a shot. Kero earned his 17th assist of the season, while MacEwen picked up his 13th.

Archibald was dinged for tripping less than 30 seconds after the goal and the Comets had a penalty to kill. The Comets were doing great work to keep the Devils to the outside before Brisebois hit Gaunce with a stretch pass for a shorthanded chance that not only didn’t go but also resulted in a Gaunce tripping penalty. The Comets were down two men.

Just under 40 seconds later, Kevin Rooney was whistled for slashing and we had some four aside play. The Comets would have a brief, 36-second power play where we saw Boucher unload a one-timer from the right circle that was denied before Brisebois saw a chance of his own turned aside. The Comets came up empty.

Demko followed up with a quick leg save before Ryan Schmelzer beat him for his fifth of the season. Rooney earned his 12th helper of the year on the play, while Brandon Gignac picked up his 11th.

Blake Speers found himself with a clean break from center-ice and broke in with a shot that was stopped by Demko while MacEwen was laying the lumber to slow the forward down. MacEwen ended up in the box for slashing.

Demko had to come up with a save on Nathan Bastian before stopping another shot through traffic. Egor Sharangovich followed up with a chance that was turned aside by Demko before Boucher hit Kero with a stretch pass, but the pivot couldn’t break through the Devils defence.

Evan McEneny finished the period off with a chance that was blockered away and the Comets would head into the third period down a goal.

The Devils showed a 10-6 advantage in shots for the middle frame.

Jagger Dirk kicked off the final frame with an early hit on Michael Kapla to continue his strong play with the Comets. We also saw Jonathan Dahlen move up to the Darcy/Bancks line with Kole Lind dropping down to play with Tony Cameranesi and Vincent Arseneau.

John Edwardh picked up his second goal of the season, and the game at the 2:25 mark to put his club up 4-2. Kurtis Gabriel earned his fourth assist of the season on the play, while Kevin Rooney picked up his 13th helper of the year.

Lukas Jasek followed up with a backhander that was kicked out by Johnson before Gaunce broke in and put a shot off the iron. Demko had to come up with a pair of saves, one of them on a tipped shot before Ryan Schmelzer was sent off for tripping.

Boucher unloaded a one-timer that was stopped and held with Zack MacEwen digging for loose change in the crease. Blake Speers broke in for a shorthanded chance after Dahlen duffed on his pass to Graham at the Devils blueline, but the Comets came away unscathed.

We saw a new second unit power play that consisted of Archibald, Jasek, Gaunce, McEneny, and Dylan Blujus. Demko showed some nice puck handling when he hit Archibald with a stretch pass from his crease to the Devils blueline, leading to an Archibald shot off the glove of Johnson. The Comets came up empty with the extra man.

Kole Lind hit Tanner Kero with a nifty feed, but Kero was unable to make anything happen. MacEwen followed up with another nice offensive zone steal. TheBigFella has been showing an active stick this season, picking off passes and forcing turnovers by the opposition.

Jonathan Dahlen was getting some chances today, but some of them were being sent wide, like the shot that he tipped just off target not long after the MacEwen play.

We saw more back and forth before Kero hit Jasek for a chance that was denied, as was the Boucher chance on the rebound. This line of Kero, Jasek, and Boucher is becoming fun to watch as they throw the puck around like it’s on a string at times.

Jasek Followed up with a backhander that was gobbled up for another whistle.

Colton White was sent off for hooking at the 13:07 mark and the Comets had a power play to work with.

Boucher unloaded a one-timer from the right circle that was knocked aside by the stick of Johnson before Darren Archibald picked off the puck in the Devils zone, turned, sang a few bars of Feliz Navidad, and buried the puck behind Johnson to pull his team to within a goal. The unassisted tally was the 10th of the season for TheMayor. Sorry, there was no gif of the Archibald goal available at the time of this writing.

Guillaume Brisebois followed up the goal with a nice feed to Lukas Jasek to get out of the Comets zone. Brisebois has been dishing some nice, crisp passes of late. I feel like the second-year blueliner is starting to come into his own with the extra ice time that he has seen with Juolevi and Sautner down with injuries.

Evan McEneny has also been sending some nice passes out of the Comets end lately and he fed Archibald with a beauty that led to the big forward drawing a penalty. The Comets would have another power play to work with as Eric Gryba was off to the box for boarding.

The Comets had a chance off of a scramble in the Devils crease, but Johnson was able to bar the door before gobbling up yet another Reid Boucher one-timer for another save.

With time running out, the Comets called their timeout with 1:38 remaining and kept Demko on the bench when they emerged from their brainstorming session. Kero, Dahlen, MacEwen, Boucher, Graham, and Archibald climbed over the boards and went to work.

We saw Boucher hammering one-timer after one-timer towards the net, but he was unable to get most of them through. It looked like MacEwen was going to knot things up when he whipped out a little how’s she goin’ to get by the Devils defender, only to put his shot wide of the net. That was it for this one as the Comets fell short of their comeback attempt. Devils win 4-3.

Utica showed a 16-4 advantage in shots over the final frame and a 31-25 advantage for the game.

Kero (10) from Boucher (13)

Boucher (16) from Kero (17) and MacEwen (13). Power play goal.

Archibald (10). Unassisted.

3rd Star: Tanner Kero. One goal, one assist.

2nd Star: Kevin Rooney. Three assists.

1st Star: John Edwardh. Two goals.

3rd Star: Darren Archibald. TheMayor is heating up. The big man has scored 10 goals on the season and is now up to 14 points in 20 games. He has goals in three straight games and in five of his last eight. Archibald kills penalties like a demon and does great work on the power play as well, picking up four of his goals with the extra man this season.

2nd Star: Reid Boucher. Boucher just keeps putting up the points and is now up to 16 goals and 13 assists, giving him 29 points in just 22 games this year. That’s uh…pretty good. He has put 95 shots on goal in those 22 games, including eight today. Five of his goals have come with the man advantage, as well as seven of his assists, so he isn’t just putting up points with the extra man. Boucher is also still holding down regular duty on the penalty kill. Boucher’s current pace would see him score 55 goals and 45 assists, good for 100 points in a regular AHL season of 76 games.

1st Star: Tanner Kero. Kero grabbed another goal and another helper today and now has 27 points in 33 games on the back of 10 goals and 17 assists. He is the only player to suit up in every game this year for the Comets after Zack MacEwen missed one due to a suspension. Kero is currently on pace for 23 goals and 39 assists, which would give him 62 points in 76 games. His previous high of 20 goals and 19 assists came back in the 2015/16 season with the Rockford IceHogs when he put up 39 points in 60 games. The pivot has been solid on the power play, picking up six goals and seven helpers with the extra man to lead all Comets players with 12 power play points this year. He is also a key piece on the penalty kill. He has been a very nice replacement for the departed Michael Chaput, who he was traded for in the offseason.

Game #34

Vs Binghamton Devils

Thursday, December 27th, 2018

7:00 pm Eastern/4:00 pm Pacific

As the Comets next game will come after Christmas, I would like to take this opportunity to wish a Merry Christmas to all of you folks who have taken the time to read what I write in this space. Stay safe so that you can keep reading!