COMETS PREP FOR WEDNESDAY GAME AT LAVAL
Jan 19, 2022Last Time on the Ice: The Comets battled their divisional rival, the Syracuse Crunch on Saturday night last week after coming off an overtime victory at home the night before. This time the teams needed overtime and it was the Crunch who skate away with the overtime victory.
The Comets started the scoring in the first period when team captain Ryan Schmelzer sent the puck right to an open Joe Gambardella who struck for his fourth goal of the season giving the team a 1-0 lead at 11:44. Daws, who made his return to action for his first game since December 8th after an injury, faced eight shots in the first period and stopped all eight.
In the second period, the Crunch tied the contest on a short-handed goal by Charles Hudon after he wristed a shot low to the glove side on Daws. The goal at 5:30 made it a 1-1 game.
In the final period of regulation, both goaltenders traded dazzling saves but it was Otto Somppi who found the loose puck in the Utica zone and sent it to the stick of Gabriel Fortier who fired it over the right shoulder of Daws to put the Crunch up 2-1. Just moments later, Maxim Cajkovic who was the beneficiary of a rebound in front of Daws and he made no mistake potting the goal that put Syracuse up 3-1. Nolan Foote carried the puck into the offensive zone and sent it over to Nate Schnarr who fired a one-timer past Crunch goalie Hugo Alnefelt at 12:02 cutting the deficit to 3-2. Foote would factor again on the scoring when he struck on a perfect shot that beat Alnefelt at 16:10 and tied the game at 3-3.
In the overtime period, it was the Crunch who capitalized on a power play when Charles Hudon struck for a goal at 2:13 after finding a deflected puck onto his stick and blasting it into the net lifting his team to a 4-3 win.
Against Laval: The Comets are a perfect 2-0 against the Rocket this season with wins coming once at home and once on the road. The last time these two teams met was in Laval with the Comets erasing a third period deficit and skating away with the win in regulation thanks to a late goal by Graeme Clarke. Nico Daws has twiced faced Laval this season and was victorious on both nights back on November 7th and 13th.
Daws Returns: After missing games since the early part of December with a lower body injury, goaltender Nico Daws stepped back onto the ice last Saturday against the Syracuse Crunch. Despite the loss in overtime, Daws looked sensational turning aside 34 shots. Daws had missed over one month of action but worked his way back in the last few weeks by practicing with the team. At this moment, the Comets have three goaltenders on the roster including Akira Schmid and Mareks Mittens.
Comets Leading Scorers: The team’s leading scorer heading into the weekend is Chase DeLeo who has registered six goals and 21 assists for 27 points in 19 games played. Following him is Fabian Zetterlund with a team leading 11 goals and 11 assists for 22 points in 24 games played. Reilly Walsh leads all d-men in scoring with four goals and 17 assists for 21 points in 28 games. Tyler Wotherspoon leads the team in plus/minus with a +19 rating.