COMETS FALL TO CRUNCH BY A SCORE OF 5-1
Mar 25, 2017Syracuse, NY - The Utica Comets surrendered three goals in the third period and lost to the Syracuse Crunch by a score of 5-1 on Saturday night at the War Memorial Arena.
The Comets tallied the first goal of the game at 10:27 of period one with a slap shot from Mike Zalewski. His fifth of the year was assisted by Chad Billins and Pascal Pelletier. Just 1:29 later, Cory Conacher scored on a rebound for his 15th of the year. Michael Bournival and Matthew Peca assisted.
The Crunch were denied a goal in the early stages of the second period with an illegal play via a kicking motion to find the back of the net. Syracuse eventually scored with a power play goal at 12:30 of the second frame from Henri Ikonen for his fourth of the year. The forward deflected an Adam Comrie shot with Ben Thomas registering the secondary assist. Through two periods, the Crunch outshot the Comets 25-11.
The third period charge began from John Kurtz with his third of the year at 4:57 from Peca and Erik Condra. Byron Froese extended the Crunch lead to 4-1 at 8:44 with his 27th of the year from Matt Taormina and Conacher on the power play. Conacher completed the string of five straight Crunch goals with his 16th of the year at 13:26 from Tye McGinn.
Thatcher Demko made 28 saves as his record fell to 19-13-4. Mike McKenna stopped 20 shots to improve to a record of 11-13-8. The Comets were scoreless in five power plays and killed three of five penalties.
The Comets complete the weekend with a 3:05 p.m. game tomorrow afternoon against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins at the Mohegan Sun Arena. The game can be heard live on 94.9 KROCK or viewed on AHL Live.
For the latest Comets news visit www.uticacomets.com or follow the team on Facebook (www.facebook.com/uticacomets), Twitter (@UticaComets), Instagram (@UticaComets), Snapchat (@UticaComets) and the Comets YouTube Channel.