COMETS HEAD NORTH TO BATTLE LAVAL
Nov 15, 2017UTICA COMETS (5-6-1) vs. LAVAL ROCKET (8-5-2)
Place Bell, 7:30 p.m.
Watch Live: AHL Live | Listen Live: 94.9 K-ROCK, Desktop or Mobile
Follow and Interact Live: Twitter | Hashtag: #UTIvsLAV
Tonight’s Game: The Utica Comets take on the Laval Rocket. Puck drop at Place Bell is at 7:30.
Last Game: The Utica Comets fell to the Charlotte Checkers by a score of 5-2 Friday night at the Adirondack Bank Center. Nicolas Roy and Clark Bishop scored in the first ten minutes to make it 2-0 Charlotte. Jayson Megna cut the lead to 2-1 with a shorthanded goal. Carter Bancks and Evan McEneny tallied the assists. Andrew Poturalski regained the two goal lead 33 seconds into the third period. The Checkers struck again five minutes when Janne Kuokkanen got one behind Bachman with assists from Carrick and Tyler Ganly. The Comets responded two minutes later with a power play goal from Michael Chaput. Nikolay Goldobin and Philip Holm collected the assists. Bishop put the Checkers back up by three with 9:09 to go in the game with a breakaway goal. Bachman stopped 26 of 31 shots in the loss. His record falls to 1-4-0.
Head-to-Head: This is the first time the Comets and Rocket face off this season. This matchup is also the first of three contests between the two teams in the month of November.
Scouting the Rocket: Laval comes in with an 8-5-2 record and currently sits in third place in the North Division. The Rocket most recently defeated the Hartford Wolf Pack 3-2 in overtime Saturday night. Matt Taormina leads the way offensively with 15 points. Zach Fucale is the leading goaltender with a 4-1-0 record, a 3.46 goals-against average, and a .881% save percentage.
Going Streaking: Michael Chaput and Nikolay Goldobin have been on fire over the last few games. Chaput carries a three-game point streak and has tallied at least one point in five of the last six games. Goldobin comes in with a four game point streak and has scored at least one point in all but two games this season.
Roster Moves: The Comets made several roster transactions since the last game. Thatcher Demko and Reid Boucher were reassigned to Utica from Vancouver after Saturday’s game. The Comets also signed forward Brendan Woods to an AHL contract and goaltender Michael Garteig was reassigned to Kalamazoo (ECHL) on Monday.
Spreading It Around: The Comets have gotten offense from all over the roster so far this season. 22 players have tallied at least one point, and eight players have at least five points.
Staying Strong: Despite the power play and penalty kill struggling of late, the Comets special teams still remain in the top 10 in both categories in the AHL. The power play is fourth in the league at 21.5% and the penalty kill is eighth at 85.5%.
Next Game: The Comets return to action Friday night as they host the Belleville Senators. Puck drops at 7 p.m. Fans are encouraged to utilize the ticket exchange website, StubHub!. The game can be heard on 94.9 KROCK and viewed on AHL Live.