COMETS FACE MONSTERS IN SATURDAY MATINEE
Feb 1, 2020UTICA COMETS (26-17-2-2) vs. CLEVELAND MONSTERS (20-21-2-2)
Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, 1 p.m.
Watch Live: AHLTV | Listen Live: 94.9 K-ROCK
Follow and Interact Live: Twitter | Hashtag: #UTIvsCLE
Tonight’s Game: The Utica Comets wrap up their weekend series against the Cleveland Monsters. Puck drop is at 1 p.m.
Last Game: Michael DiPietro made 27 saves and earned his first career shutout as he led the Utica Comets past the Cleveland Monsters by a 3-0 final on Friday at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse. Nikolay Goldobin scored twice and Carter Bancks added the other Utica goal in the win.
Head-to-Head: This is the third contest between Utica and Cleveland this season. Utica leads the season series 2-0-0-0. The Comets are 3-0-0-0 on the road and 5-1-0-0 overall in the last five seasons against the Monsters.
Scouting the Monsters: Cleveland comes in with a record of 20-21-2-2 and sits in last place in the North Division. Adam Clendening leads the offense with 30 points, followed by Stefan Matteau with 23 points. Veini Vehvilainen is the top netminder with a record of 9-12-2, a 2.57 goals-against average, and a .905 save percentage.
Not Afraid of Monsters: Kole Lind has played extremely well against Cleveland in his young career. In six career games against the Monsters, Lind has seven points (1-6-7), including a two-point effort the first time these two teams squared off this season. Overall, the second year forward has 38 points (12-27-39) in 47 games this season.
Keep It 100: Nikolay Goldobin is closing in on a pair of career milestones. Goldobin sits one goal back of reaching the 100-career goal mark and is one assist away from 100 career AHL assists. The forward sits second on the team with 43 points (17-25-43) in 41 games this year.
Young Gun: Brogan Rafferty continues to pile up points from the blue line. Rafferty has six points (1-5-6) in his last four games and nine points (1-8-9) in his last seven games. He also has a three-game road point streak. The rookie leads all defensemen in the AHL with 39 points (6-33-39) in 43 games.
Chipping In: Ashton Sautner isn’t necessarily known for his offense, but he has been able to pick up point lately. Sautner has recorded a point in back-to-back games, including scoring his first goal of the year two games ago. He is also four points shy of tying his career high in points and has surpassed his point total from last season. The defenseman as nine points (1-8-9) in 40 games.
Next Game: The Comets return to action Wednesday, February 5 on the road against the Laval Rocket. Puck drop is at 7 p.m. The game can be heard of 94.9 KROCK and viewed on AHLTV.