COMETS BEGIN HOME AND HOME SET WITH BELLEVILLE
Jan 24, 2020UTICA COMETS (25-15-2-2) vs. BELLEVILLE SENATORS (25-14-3-1)
Adirondack Bank Center, 7 p.m.
Watch Live: AHLTV | Listen Live: 94.9 K-ROCK
Follow and Interact Live: Twitter | Hashtag: #BELvsUTI
Tonight’s Game: The Utica Comets faceoff against the Belleville Senators. Puck drop is at 7 p.m.
Last Game: The Utica Comets jumped out to a 3-0 lead but surrendered five consecutive goals and fell 5-3 to the Binghamton Devils Wednesday night at the Adirondack Bank Center. Zack MacEwen, Lukas Jasek, and Nikolay Goldobin were the goal scorers for Utica. Michael DiPietro made 21 saves in the loss.
Head-to-Head: This is the fourth matchup between the North Division rivals this season. Utica leads the season series 2-1-0-0, but Belleville won the most recent meeting 4-0 back on January 11. The Comets are 4-3-0-0 at home against Belleville in the last five seasons.
Scouting the Senators: Belleville comes in with a record of 25-13-3-1 and sits in first place in the North Division. They most recently fell to the Milwaukee Admirals 2-1 Tuesday night. Drake Batherson leads the offense with 42 points, followed by Josh Norris with 40 points. Filip Gustavsson is the top active netminder with a record of 10-5-2, a 3.28 goals-against average, and .892 save percentage.
Leading the Way: Reid Boucher continues to pile up points for Utica. Boucher is riding a five-game point streak into tonight’s game, picking up eight points (2-6-8) during that stretch. He is also 12 points shy of tying his own team record for points in a single season. The forward leads the league with 50 points (24-26-50) in 39 games this year.
Gold Standard: Nikolay Goldobin is heating up at the right time. Goldobin has racked up 13 points (4-9-13) in his last eight games and has points in each of his last four home games. He is also three points shy of tying his career best 44. Goldobin has 41 points (15-26-41) in 38 games.
Holy Olli: Olli Juolevi is beginning to hit his stride on offense. Juolevi is on a five-game point streak, piling up seven points (1-6-7) in those games. The blueliner also has points in seven of his last eight games. The rookie defenseman has 22 points (2-20-22) in 35 games this season.
Career Year: Sven Baertschi is on his way to new careers bests at the AHL level. Baertschi has already surpassed his previous highs in assists and points and sits five goals back of tying his career high in goals. The forward has tallied 32 points (8-24-32) in 27 games with the Comets this season.
Next Game: The Comets are back at it tomorrow night in a rematch against the Senators. Puck drop at CAA Arena is at 7 p.m. The game can be heard on 94.9 KROCK and viewed on AHLTV.