COMETS AND ICECAPS COLLIDE TONIGHT
Dec 16, 2016UTICA COMETS (10-12-1-0) vs. St. John's IceCaps (13-12-2-0)
The Utica Memorial Auditorium, 7:00 p.m.
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Tonight’s Game: The Utica Comets take on the St. John’s Ice Caps for the third time this season. Puck drops at 7 p.m.
Last Game: The Comets dropped a heartbreaking 3-2 overtime loss to the Albany Devils. Albany opened the scoring midway through the opening period but Alexandre Grenier struck back just 30 seconds later. The Devils retook the lead five minutes into the middle frame but the Comets were again able to tie the game quickly. Pascal Pelletier netted a power play goal just a minute after Albany scored. Regulation was not enough to find a winner, and the two teams headed to overtime. With just 39 seconds remaining in overtime, Blake Pietila won the game for the visitors. The forward beat Thatcher Demko low short-side directly off of a faceoff. Demko finished the night with 30 saves and fell to a record of 7-5-2.
Head-to-Head: St. John’s leads the season series 2-0-0-0, winning 4-3 (O/T) and 6-3 back in early November in St. John’s, Newfoundland. Alexandre Grenier leads the Comets with one goal and three assists in two games aginst the IceCaps.
Scouting the Ice Caps: St. John’s currently sits in 4th place in the North Division with 28 points and are coming off of a 4-3 overtime loss to Binghamton on Wednesday night. Offensively, the Ice Caps are paced by Chris Terry with 25 points, and Sven Andrighetto with 22 points. Charlie Lindgren leads the goaltenders with a 9-7-1 record and a 2.75 GAA and .916 save percentage.
Heartbroken: The Comets have lost the last three games by one goal, but were able to pull out a point in two of those games. Despite being winless in the last three games, the Comets have collected points in five of the last six games.
New Line Connection: Alexandre Grenier and Pascal Pelletier have been on a tear since playing on the same line. Grenier currently owns a five-game point streak and Pelletier has had at least one assist in three consecutive home games.
Power Surge: The Comets’ power play has been heating up as of late, having scored at least one goal on the man advantage in five consecutive games. The unit currently sits at 9th in league at 20.5%.
Help from the Back End: At least one Comets’ defensemen has tallied a point in the last eight games, including six points from Jordan Subban and Colby Robak, as well as three from Andrey Pedan.
Next Game: The Comets return to action Saturday night against the Binghamton Senators at the Floyd L. Maines Veterans Memorial Arena. Puck drops at 7:05 p.m.