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Utica Week in Review: February 17th
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Jeremy Davis
Feb 17, 2016, 15:00 ESTUpdated:
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The Comets stayed hot last week, winning two out of three games and collecting a loser point they had no business getting in the other game. That’s now seven straight games the Comets have earned at least one point, going 6-0-1-0 in that stretch.
The Comets have been a bit streaky this season, but they picked a good time to get hot – the Canucks are such a flaming pile of garbage right now, it’s great to have their affiliate to keep some semblance of good feelings going.
Better still? All of the Canucks’ top AHL prospects are racking up points fast and furious.

The Games

February 9th, 2016 vs Wilkes-Barre/Scranton: 4 – 3 Overtime Loss
The Utica Comets erased a second period 3-0 Wilkes-Barre/Scranton penguins lead before falling 4-3 in overtime Tuesday night at the Utica Memorial Auditorium. The Penguins struck twice in the first period and then again early in the second period before the Comets took the game over and mounted their comeback and scored three straight.
Carter Bancks (0-2-0) had a multi-point night, while Chris Higgins (1-0-0), Jordan Subban (1-0-0), and Brendan Gaunce (1-0-0) each recorded goals for the Comets. Richard Bachman made 21 saves in net for Utica.
From the Utica Comets post-game report.
February 12th, 2016 vs Binghamton: 5 – 2 Win
The Utica Comets struck twice on the power play and were a perfect 6-for-6 on the penalty kill as the defeated the Binghamton Senators 5-2 at the Utica Memorial Auditorium onFriday night. The Comets have now won five out of their last six games.
Brendan Gaunce (1-2-3), Ronalds Kenins (0-2-2), Hunter Shinkaruk (1-1-2), Taylor Fedun (1-1-2), and Alexandre Grenier (1-1-2) recorded multi-point nights for the Comets, while Darren Archibald (1-0-1), Jordan Subban (0-1-1), Joseph LaBate (0-1-1), and Andrey Pedan (0-1-1) had one point each. Joe Cannata made 31 saves to record his 13th win of the season.
From the Utica Comets post-game report.
February 13th, 2016 at Lehigh Valley: 5 – 2 Win
The Utica Comets jumped out to an early 2-0 lead and never let up as they steamrolled the Lehigh Valley Phantoms 5-2 on Saturday night the PPL Center. The Comets outshot the home team 40-23 en route to their sixth win in their last seven games. In that stretch the Comets have collected 13 out of 14 possible points as their lone loss came in overtime.
David Shields (1-1-2), Michael Zalewski (0-2-2), Ronalds Kenins (1-1-2), and Darren Archibald (1-1-2) all posted multi-point games in the victory. The multi-point game was Kenins second consecutive night with multiple points and his first period tally was his first of the season. Cole Cassels (1-0-1) chipped in his second goal of the season, while Hunter Shinkaruk (1-0-1) added an empty-net goal as he inches closer to the franchise’s record for goals in a single-season.
From the Utica Comets post-game report.

Roster Report

Roster Information:
There was a little bit of roster business last week as the Canucks lost two of their core players, Alex Edler and Brandon Sutter, for an extended period of time. Yannick Weber was recalled on defence, while Alex Friesen received his first ever NHL call up.
Brandon Prust has arrived and has been practicing in Utica, but has yet to get into a game. Evidently he took some time off to rest his ankle, not skating for a couple of weeks between the all-star break and reporting to Utica. He’s now been working back into game shape and it looks like he’ll debut tonight.
Injury Update:
Blair Jones finally returned to action on Friday after missing 14 straight games, playing on a second line with Ronalds Kenins and Mike Zalewski. Unfortunately, it was short-lived. Jones was sidelined again on Saturday, apparently with a separate injury than the one that kept him out for the first six weeks of the calendar year.

The Stats

#
Player
GP
G
A
P
+/-
Sh
PIM
10
B. Gaunce
3
2
2
4
-1
12
0
25
D. Archibald
3
2
2
4
-1
8
0
15
R. Kenins
3
1
3
4
-1
8
17
27
T. Fedun
3
1
3
4
0
7
0
28
A. Grenier
3
1
3
4
0
9
0
9
H. Shinkaruk
3
2
1
3
0
9
4
7
J. Subban
3
1
2
3
0
3
2
5
D. Shields
2
1
1
2
0
4
0
14
M. Zalewski
3
0
2
2
-1
5
4
34
C. Bancks
3
0
2
2
-2
5
0
21
C. Higgins
3
1
0
1
0
12
2
24
C. Cassels
3
1
0
1
-1
4
0
6
A. Sautner
2
0
1
1
0
1
0
16
J. LaBate
3
0
1
1
-1
5
2
36
W. Hamilton
3
0
1
1
0
2
0
37
A. Pedan
3
0
1
1
-1
5
2
2
T. Ehrhardt
2
0
0
0
-2
1
2
8
*
A. Friesen
1
0
0
0
-1
3
0
11
J. Negrin
1
0
0
0
0
1
0
12
J. Kurtz
1
0
0
0
0
2
0
18
*
L. Vey
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
20
J. Landry
2
0
0
0
0
3
9
22
†
B. Jones
1
0
0
0
0
1
0
† Missed game(s) due to injury/illness; * Missed game(s) due to NHL call up.
Somebody suggested last week that I sort the weekly stats by point totals. That made way to much sense to not do.
Goalies:
#
Goalie
GS
Record
GA
SA
Sv%
GAA
32
R. Bachman
2
1-0-1
6
48
.875
2.99
35
J. Cannata
1
1-0-0
2
29
.931
2.00
Goaltending has been a bit of a burden for the Comets this year, which must come as quite a shock after having the advantage of playing in front of Jacob Markstrom last season. Joe Cannata and Richard Bachman have alternated starts pretty much all season long. If recent trends continue, though, they might have to switch that up as they head into the home stretch. Bachman seems to have a penchant for allowing cringe worthy goals more often that I’d feel comfortable with (see the second and third goals from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton highlights or the final goal in the Lehigh Valley highlights above for examples).
Prospects:
Brendan Gaunce led the charge last week, scoring two goals and adding two assists. Following Friday’s game, Gaunce had four goals in his previous three games. He’s currently sitting second on the team in both goals and points. Gaunce was back centering the top line between Shinkaruk and Grenier, as Zalewski moved to center the second line in the absence of Alex Friesen.
Ronalds Kenins finally made his way onto the score sheet, potting his first goal of the season and adding three assists over the course of the week. It’s been a long time coming for Kenins, whose season has been ravaged by injury and bad luck. He was put into some advantageous situations last week, filling in on the top power play unit in Alex Friesen’s spot.
Alex Grenier has been dry for a large chunk of the season now. I even mentioned last week that it would be great if he could get going now that Gaunce has caught fire again. Well, this week Grenier had a goal and three assists, and even though it was an empty netter, it’s still nice to put some points on the board. This week’s goal: score on a goalie.
Hunter Shinkaruk stayed hot, adding two goals and an assist to his team leading goal and point totals. Having hit the 20 goal plateau with 28 games to go, Shinkaruk is set to break the Comets all-time record for goals in a season, held by Pascal Pelletier, who scored 22 in the Comets inaugural campaign in 2013-14. Yes, 22 is a sad all-time goal record, so let’s hope Shinkaruk can shatter that mark – if he isn’t called up to the big leagues first.
Jordan Subban also had a three point week, scoring a power play goal and adding two assists. Travis Green seemed to be experimenting a bit with his power play blueliners as Subban, who normally quarterbacks the second unit, was starting on the first unit occasionally along with his regular partner, Jon Landry, a departure from the four-man unit that the Comets have run for most of the season. It’s possible that this is personnel based (Alex Friesen was missing, and at the time Ronalds Kenins was serving 17 minutes in penalties), but it’s got to be hard to deny those two the offensive opportunities – Subban and Landry are the Comets two leading defensive scorers, even though they’re generally third in the defensive rotation at even strength.
Mike Zalewski was one of the few Canucks prospects that didn’t score a goal last week, although he did add two assists to his totals, keeping pace with the highly touted prospects of the Comets’ point leaderboard.
Cole Cassels scored his second goal of the season tonight, and it was a substantial improvement over his first goal. The Comets’ youngest forward is up to five points on the season – still less than we’d hope for, but he’s showing some signs of life in the latter stages of the season. Cassels continues to centre the Comets’ fourth line.
Ashton Sautner, Joe LaBate, and Andrey Pedan each had a single assist to show for their efforts last week.
Team Level:
Once again, the Comets outshot their opponents handily in all three games: 37-25, 33-29, and 40-23, for a total of 110-77 over the course of the week. This has been a pattern all here, the only variation is how many of shots go in the net. Last week, it was a lot. Utica’s shooting percentage last week was 11.8 per cent.
Special teams let the Comets down a bit again the baby Penguins, as they went 0-for-4 on the power play and allowed one goal in three short handed opportunities. Things improved on the weekend, as the Comets went 2-for-8 against Binghamton, followed by an 0-for-1 performance on Saturday, which was unusual for the sheer lack of opportunities. While the goals haven’t always been there this season, the power play opportunities generally have been.
In fact, the Comets have had the third most power play opportunities in the AHL this season, with 218 cracks at the man advantage. Unfortunately, they’ve converted only 32 times, given them a 26th ranked power play scoring 14.7 per cent of the time.
Across the entirety of the week, the Comets killed nine out of ten penalties, as it continues to climb the league rankings. Their PK is now 10th in the league, killing off 84.5 per cent of opponent power plays, while their eight short handed goals are tied for third in the AHL. On home ice, the Comets are even stronger, killing off 91.1 per cent of penalties – good for the best home penalty kill in the league.

Player of the Week

The boys made it a little bit tough on me this week, with three players having multi-goal weeks and five players picking up four points. I’m gonna go with our old friend Ronalds Kenins – the artist formerly known as the Latvian Locomotive.
Kenins picked up four points over the course of the week, including a goal and three assists. This brings him up to a grand total of six points (one goal and five assists) in just 15 games this season, which should give you a pretty good indication of how his year is going.
You may recall that there once was a time when Kenins was considered a lock to make the Canucks roster in 2015-16, even if it was as a 13th or 14th forward. Like Linden Vey and Frank Corrado though, Kenins disappointed in training camp and had his spot usurped by younger blood.
Since then, things have been a mess. Kenins missed nearly 20 games early in the season as a result of a knee injury and struggled to regain his form as he returned to the lineup. Nevertheless, he was granted an NHL call up early on, probably solely on his play from the previous season, but it wasn’t long before he was sent away.
Finally, it looks like Kenins might make something out of a season that looked like it would be entirely lost. The question is whether this is all happening too late. Kenins is already 24-years old, and has been passed on the depth chart by a multitude of prospects – even guys like Alex Friesen get the call over him these days.
That doesn’t stop Kenins from working his tail off though. The speedy, wrecking ball is back. He even fights now, and apparently he’s good at it.
I’m not the biggest fan of fighting anymore, but he sure did hold his own in that bout of face punching. He was even defending a teammate, which impresses certain folks.
Whether or not he can make it back to the NHL remains to be seen. But at least, there’s always this possibility:

Looking Ahead

The Comets will play three games this week, starting tonight as the Portland Pirates visit Utica, followed by a game in Syracuse on Friday and a battle at home against Albany on Saturday.
Tonight will be the fourth time this season that Utica has faced off against Portland, but it will be the first time that Brendan Gaunce is in the lineup. The significance of this? Brendan’s brother, Cameron, plays defence for the Pirates (and was an AHL all-star this year). In the previous three matchups between these teams, Brendan was on a Vancouver call up once and injured the other times.
As for the Pirates themselves, they’re sitting third in the Atlantic Division with a record of 29-18-1-0 and a points percentage of 0.615 (the AHL is all about the points percentage you see). They’re currently riding a three-game winning streak, but they have lost to Utica in all three meetings between the clubs this season.
On Friday, the Comets will be visited by their hated rivals, the Syracuse Crunch. The Crunch are having a terrible time of things, with only one win in their last ten games (1-6-3-0) and the Comets have taken four out of the five meetings between the teams this season. Hilariously enough, Syracuse’s last win was the last game Jonathan Drouin played for them – since his suspension, it’s been nine straight losses.
The Comets will take on the Albany Devils for the sixth time this season on Saturday. Albany had Utica’s number in the first three meetings, winning each time and outscoring the Comets 13-4, but Utica has taken the last two – however they needed to go beyond regulation both times.
It’s getting to that point in the season where checking the standings is becoming routine. The Comets have 28 games to go, and their current seven-game point streak has them back in the playoff picture. They currently sit in eighth in the Eastern Conference. If they can keep the goals coming, they’ll only improve their chances going forward.

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