COMETS LOOK TO CONTINUE DOMINANCE AT HOME
Dec 1, 2021The Last Time Out: The Comets were able to beat the Charlotte Checkers on the road during a two-game road swing through North Carolina as they skated away with a win on Sunday afternoon by a 5-2 score.
In the first period, the Comets started the scoring, and it was Marian Studenic who took the feed from Alexander Holtz and slid the puck past Charlotte netminder Christopher Gibson at 5:06. Later, the Comets added to their goal total after Samuel Laberge stopped at the net and batted in a bouncing puck at 15:19. Aarne Talvitie and Holtz added assists on Laberge’s first goal as a Comet. Charlotte sliced the Comets lead in half after a breakaway goal was scored by Cole Schwindt at 18:14. After 20 minutes of play, Utica held a 2-1 lead.
In the second period, the Checkers tied the game on the power-play when Alex True located a rebound off the pad of Utica goalie Nico Daws and shoveled it into the net at 5:45 tying the contest at 2-2. Later, it was the Comets that reacquired a one goal lead after Fabian Zetterlund made a great play to send the puck around the defense of the Checkers and right to the stick of AJ Greer who fired it blocker-side and in at 10:43. With that tally, the Comets lead 3-2.
In the final period of regulation, the Comets kept the scoring going and this time it was Nathan Schnarr who deposited a loose puck into the Checkers net as assisted by Laberge at 2:51. This was followed by another Laberge goal as he drove the crease, took a pass from Greer and fired it short side and in at 6:27 giving the Comets a 5-2 lead which would be the final score of the contest.
DeLeo Returns to the Utica: The New Jersey Devils announced yesterday that they have reassigned forward Chase DeLeo to the Utica Comets.
DeLeo, 26, skated in two games with the Devils in his first recall to New Jersey. DeLeo remains the leading scorer of the Comets this season scoring two goals and 12 assists for 14 points in eight games played and is currently on a six-game point streak. He has registered four multi-point games during the 2021-22 campaign.
Comets vs Senators: The two teams last battled in Belleville and the Comets skated away with a 4-1 victory back on November 14th. In the first period, the captain started the scoring as he did the day before when he found a loose puck in front of Senators netminder Kevin Mandolese and fired it just under the crossbar and in at 13:51 giving the Comets a 1-0 advantage.
During the middle frame, Comets’ defenseman Reilly Walsh scored his first goal of the season when he wristed a shot past Mandolese at 13:18. The goal assisted by Nathan Schnarr was his second assist of the game and helped extend the lead to 2-0 after forty minutes of action.
In the final period of regulation, Fabian Zetterlund helped the team to a 3-0 lead at 2:03 after he sliced through the Senators defense and wristed a shot behind the Belleville goalie. Nikita Okhotiuk and Marian Studenic. The Senators added a goal with their netminder on the bench, Pontus Åberg scored to put Belleville on the board when the puck just slid past Comets netminder Akira Schmid at 16:55. But, later on, Comets forward AJ Greer struck for an empty net tally and finished the game off with a 4-1 win for Utica.
The Senators are Heating Up: With a 7-3 record in their last 10 games, the Senators are playing some of their best hockey of the season. They have won their last four games straight including victories against Laval and Syracuse. Their leading scorer is forward Jake Luchini who is currently on a three game point streak and h