COMETS BEGIN WEEKEND SERIES AGAINST LAVAL
Nov 24, 2017UTICA COMETS (6-9-1) vs. LAVAL ROCKET (9-7-3)
Place Bell, 7:30 p.m.
Watch Live: AHL Live | Listen Live: 94.9 K-ROCK, Desktop or Mobile
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Tonight’s Game: The Utica Comets take on the Laval Rocket. Puck drop at Place Bell is at 7:30 p.m.
Last Game: The Utica Comets fell to the Toronto Marlies 5-2 Wednesday night at the Adirondack Bank Center. The Marlies that got on the board first with a power play strike with 48 seconds remaining in the period courtesy of Miro Aaltonen. Timothy Liljegren and Mason Marchment had the assists. Patrick Wiercioch tied the game with a shorthanded goal six minutes into the middle frame. Michael Chaput and Cameron Darcy tallied the assists. Justin Holl regained the lead five minutes later with assists from Ben Smith and Trevor Moore. In the last minute of the period, Dmytro Timashov put Toronto up 3-1, burying a loose puck in front. Holl struck again seven minutes into the final period. Travis Dermott collected the assist. Chris Mueller put the Marlies up 5-1 halfway through the third period. Reid Boucher brought the Comets to within three, but it was too little, too late. Jalen Chatfield and Zack MacEwen picked up the assists on Boucher’s seventh of the year. Thatcher Demko stopped 35 of 40 shots and his record falls to 5-5-1.
Head-to-Head: This is the second matchup of the year between the Comets and Rocket. Laval took game one by a score of 5-4 on November 15. Utica went 2-3-3 overall last season against the then St. John’s IceCaps.
Scouting the Rocket: Laval comes in with a record of 9-7-3, most recently losing 3-2 in a shootout to Manitoba Tuesday night. Matt Taormina leads the offense with 19 points followed by Daniel Carr with 18 points. Zachary Fucale is the leading goaltender with a record of 4-2-0, a 3.54 goals-against average, and .879% save percentage.
Oh…Canada: Canada has not been friendly to the Comets so far this year. Utica is 0-3-0 north of the border so far, dropping 3-1 and 4-3 decisions to Toronto on opening weekend as well as a 5-4 loss to Laval on November 15.
Light It Up: The Comets offense has been hot on the road as of late. The Comets have scored at least four goals in each of their last four road games. Utica holds a 2-2-0 record in those games and are 4-2-1 overall when scoring three or more goals in a game.
Road Warriors: Michael Chaput and Nikolay Goldobin have also been enjoying their time on the road. Chaput has tallied four points in his last three road games and Goldobin has notched three multi-point efforts away from home this year
Ice Cold: After going 3-6 on the man advantage last week against Belleville, the Comets have since gone 0 for their last 11. Overall, the Comets power play is seventh in the AHL at a 20% conversion rate.
Next Game: The Comets are back in action tomorrow afternoon for a rematch with Laval. Puck drop from Place Bell is at 3 p.m. The game can be heard on 94.9 KROCK and viewed on AHL Live.