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Utica Week In Review: December 8th
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Jeremy Davis
Dec 8, 2015, 22:42 ESTUpdated:
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Photo Credit: Lindsay A. Mogle / Utica Comets
After winning all three of the previous week’s games, the Comets hit a bit of a skid this week dropping the Wednesday and Friday games. They very nearly lost the Saturday game as well, being down 2-0 early into the third period. Then they did something the 2015-16 Canucks haven’t been able to do all season: They won a game in which they trailed after two periods.
The Comets managed to salvage what could have been a disappointing week, but it wouldn’t have been due to poor play. In all three games, the Comets came out strong and badly outshot the competition (12-4, 12-4, 15-6 respectively) and yet came out of each first period trailing 1-0. Coach Travis Green praised their play in each game, which is saying something because he certainly isn’t afraid to criticize the team when they play poorly.
Let’s take a look at each of the individual games and how the players fared individually.

The Games

December 2nd, 2015 vs Lehigh Valley: 3 – 1 Loss

The Utica Comets fell to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on Wednesday night by the score of 3-1 at the Utica Memorial Auditorium. The loss snapped the Comets four game-winning streak.
Richard Bachman made 16 saves for the Comets, and Michael Zalewski (1-0-1) netted the lone goal for the Comets. Utica outshot the Phantoms 28-19.
With the win, Lehigh Valley improves to 10-11-1-0. The loss dropped the Comets to 9-9-1-1 on the season.
The Comets will stay at home on Friday, as they welcome the St. John’s IceCaps to the Utica Memorial Auditorium. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Per the Utica Comets Press Release
December 4th, 2015 vs St. John’s: 2 – 1 OT Loss

Despite outshooting the St. John’s IceCaps 31-15, the Utica Comets dropped a hard fought overtime game to the IceCaps by the score of 2-1 at the Utica Memorial Auditorium on Friday night.
Ashton Sautner (1-0-1) had the lone goal for the Comets, while Joe Cannata saved 13 of the IceCaps 15 shots on goal.
The Comets had 31 shots on the night, while the IceCaps had 15. Eddie Pasquale made 30 saves for the IceCaps.
The loss drops the Comets to 9-9-2-1 on the season. The IceCaps improve to 12-5-4-2 with the win.
The Comets will be on the road on Saturday, as they travel to Syracuse, NY to take on their rival, Syracuse Crunch. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Per the Utica Comets Press Release
December 5th, 2015 vs Syracuse: 4 – 2 Win
For some reason Syracuse neglected to put together a highlight package for Saturday’s game; maybe they’d rather forget the fact that they blew a two-goal lead with just over six minutes to play. In any case, here is the goal from Nicklas Jensen that got the comeback started.
Utica Comets and Syracuse Crunch added yet another unbelievable chapter to the ever-growing I-90 rivalry on Saturday night. The Comets scored four third period goals in the final 6:13 of the game to erase a 2-0 Crunch lead at the War Memorial at the OnCenter. The win serves as the Comets first third period comeback victory of the season, as well as the Crunch’s first blown third period lead.
Nicklas Jensen (1-0-1), Wacey Hamilton (1-0-1), Alex Friesen (1-0-1), and Alexandre Grenier (1-0-1) all scored third period goals, while Bachman made 18 saves, including four highlight-reel, game-saving saves in the third period, in the victory.
“I loved the way the guys stuck with their game,” said Comets head coach Travis Green. “ (They) Played good the first two periods and stayed the course. It is nice to see them rewarded.”
The Crunch broke the scoreless tie with a minute left in the first, with a power-play goal. From just above the goal line, Adam Erne one-timed a pass from Matthew Peca, across the crease to Tye McGinn who banged it into the gaping net.
Again on the power play, Tambellini slipped down from the point, unnoticed, received a pass from Matt Taormina, and fired a shot over the glove of Bachman to double the Crunch’s lead.
The Comets broke Kristers Gudlevskis shutout bid, and cut the deficit to one, thirteen minutes into the third period. Darren Archibald forced an offensive zone turnover and slid the puck over to Linden Vey. Vey drew the Crunch defender over to him before passing it across the slot to Jensen, who banked it into the net off of a diving Gudlevskis.
The Comets tied the game just over three minutes later. Travis Ehrhardt intercepted a clearing pass up the wall, and flicked a quick shot on net. Gudlevskis made the save but directed the rebound into the slot and right onto Hamilton’s stick. Hamilton, from his knees, fired hit past the sprawling goaltender to knot the game at two.
Just 54 seconds later the comeback was completed. Michael Zalewski, on a fast break, passed it to a trailing Alex Friesen. Friesen juggled the puck around DeAngelo, fired a shot off of the mask of Gudlevski, and then jammed the rebound home before the goaltender could find the puck. The goal prompted a loud reaction from the Comets faithful, as the familiar “U-TI-CA” chants rang out during the final two minutes.
Grenier added an empty-net goal for good measure with 17 seconds to play.
“Anytime we can win against Syracuse is a big win for our team,” said Wacey Hamilton. “We know how big the rivalry is and how important these divisional games are. To get two points was huge, and to do it in that fashion made it a little sweeter.”
With the win, the Comets hit the double-digit mark in wins with a 10-9-2-1 record. The Crunch’s record fell to 12-6-4-2 in the loss. The Comets fired 33 shots on goal, to the Crunch’s 20.
The Comets brief two-game road trip concludes on Wednesday night in Rochester, when the Comets take on the Rochester Americans. Puck drop from the Blue Cross Arena is scheduled for 7pm.

Per the Utica Comets Press Release

The Lineups

Panic set in this week as Hunter Shinkaruk went down with an undisclosed mystery injury. The injury appeared to occur at some point in the first period of the Wednesday game (he was conspicuously absent from the bench while the top power play unit was in action), reappeared for the second period, left again and hasn’t been seen since. He’ll join Brendan Gaunce on a list of important Comets who are injured but apparently not that bad, according to head coach Travis Green, who plays things pretty close to the chest.
The Comets are also suffering due to a number of their core players being up with the Canucks. Utica spent the entire week without Ronalds Kenins and captain Alex Biega, and were even missing Andrey Pedan for the Wednesday game as he hadn’t returned from his Canucks call up in time for the start of the game.
As a result of these various circumstances, the Comets played most of the week with Mike Zalewski and Darren Archibald in their top six. Useful AHL players to be sure, but a far cry from a top six that boasted Brendan Gaunce and Hunter Shinkaruk just weeks before.
Rookies Jordan Subban and Cole Cassels continued their “two on, one off” pattern, receiving a single healthy scratch each. Other rookies Ashton Sautner and Joe LaBate, meanwhile, played all three games. Canucks “prospect” Mackenze Stewart was called up this week from the ECHL, but he didn’t get into a single game.

The Stats

#
Player
GP
G
A
P
+/-
Sh
PIM
2
T. Ehrhardt
3
0
2
2
0
2
2
3
A. Biega
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
6
A. Sautner
3
1
0
1
-1
5
0
7
J. Subban
2
0
0
0
-1
3
0
8
A. Friesen
3
1
1
2
0
6
2
9
H. Shinkaruk
1
0
0
0
-1
0
0
10
B. Gaunce
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
11
J. Negrin
3
0
0
0
0
8
0
12
J. Kurtz
3
0
0
0
0
0
5
14
M. Zalewski
3
1
1
2
0
7
0
15
R. Kenins
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
16
J. LaBate
3
0
0
0
0
3
0
17
N. Jensen
3
1
0
1
-2
12
0
18
L. Vey
3
0
1
1
-2
9
2
20
J. Landry
2
0
0
0
-1
4
0
22
B. Jones
3
0
0
0
0
4
0
24
C. Cassels
2
0
0
0
0
1
0
25
D. Archibald
3
0
1
1
-1
4
0
27
T. Fedun
3
0
1
1
-1
9
4
28
A. Grenier
3
1
0
1
0
7
2
34
C. Bancks
3
0
1
1
-2
2
2
36
W. Hamilton
3
1
0
1
-1
1
2
37
A. Pedan
2
0
0
0
0
5
9
Go ahead and hit the panic button again: the tragic loss of Josh Weissbock and Money Puck has resulted in the disappearance of CHLstats.com, the website that provided me with fancy AHL numbers like team Estimated Fenwick and PDO. That sucks. Through the power of guessing, I would venture that the Comets PDO decreased and their Fenwick increased this week, as they badly outshot their opponents in all three tilts, but had just six goals in three games to show for it.
The Comets currently boast nine players who are in the black when it comes to even strength on-ice goals-for percentage, mostly comprised of the Comets middle six and top defenders, including Nicklas Jensen, Andrey Pedan, Taylor Fedun and Blair Jones. Shinkaruk, Gaunce and Kenins are sitting at 50 per cent, while some of the other prospects are struggling: Jordan Subban is at 47.4, Linden Vey is at 44.8, Alex Grenier is at 39.1, and Cole Cassels is at an abysmal 22.2 per cent.
Having hardly played, Shinkaruk’s estimated points per 60 minutes hasn’t changed, and he still leads the team with a eP60 of 3.00. The next best prospect in Nicklas Jensen, at 1.96.
With his empty net goal on Saturday, Alex Grenier is now tied with Brandon DeFazio for the more goals in Comets franchise history,at 38 (remember that this franchise is only in its third season). The next goal he scores sets a new record. The Comets play their next two games at home, giving him a chance to do so in front of a raucous Utica crowd.

Player of the Week

Player of the week honours goes to Nicklas Jensen today. He had just one point this week, but it was a big one: the goal that kick-started the Saturday night comeback. He also led all Comets in shots on net this weekend with 12.
Jensen has looked very good so far this year. He hasn’t had results on the same level that Shinkaruk has, so his production has been largely overlooked, although it hasn’t been disappointing. What really hurts Jensen now is how many other prospects have caught up and passed him. In 2013-14, he was all we had. Fast forward a couple of seasons and he’s fallen behind the likes of Hunter Shinkaruk, Brendan Gaunce, Alex Grenier, and Ronalds Kenins.
Jensen’s window of opportunity to become an NHL player may almost be closed. Even with his improved play, it is likely that he’s too far down the depth chart to get another look unless the Canucks are absolutely rocked with trades and injuries.
It’s a shame because Jensen is finally playing the way that the organization wants him too: as a 200-foot two-way winger, more in the image of Jannik Hansen than the outright goal scorer many thought he could be after impressing during his brief NHL call-ups in recent years. But who knows, if the goals start pouring in and the circumstances are right, he could get one last stab at being a Canuck. Otherwise, he might just end up being someone else’s project.

Looking Ahead

The Comets have three more games coming up this week. On Wednesday, they’ll head to Rochester, where they’ll take on the Americans, led by former Utica captain Cal O’Reilly. On the weekend, they’ll take on the Toronto Marlies twice – once on Friday in Utica and then on Sunday in Toronto.
The Marlies are red-hot right now, having won eight of their last ten games, including a 9-0 drubbing of the Manitoba Moose on Sunday. The Marlies deploy the AHL’s leading scorer, William Nylander (sorry, Canucks fans), as well as two more skaters in the league’s top 10 (T.J. Brennan and Josh Leivo). By comparison, the Comets leading scorer, Hunter Shinkaruk, sits 15th in the AHL with 19 points (11 goals, 8 assists). Of course, Shinkaruk can’t add to his point totals if he isn’t playing.
The situation in Vancouver may necessitate that Alex Biega stay up with the big club, but Utica may be inching closer to getting some of its top players back. Hopefully, that is the case, as Gaunce and Shinkaruk are both offensive leaders for the Comets, and they also provide the most interest from Canuck minded viewers like myself.

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