COMETS TAKE ON SOUND TIGERS FOR SECOND TIME IN THREE GAMES
Dec 9, 2019UTICA COMETS (13-8-1-2) vs. BRIDGEPORT SOUND TIGERS (9-13-3-1)
Webster Bank Arena, 7 p.m.
Watch Live: AHLTV | Listen Live: 94.9 K-ROCK
Follow and Interact Live: Twitter | Hashtag: #UTIvsBRI
Tonight’s Game: The Utica Comets take on the Bridgeport Sound Tigers for the second time in three nights. Puck drop is at 7 p.m.
Last Game: Richard Bachman made 41 saves in his season debut and helped the Utica Comets earn a point, but they couldn’t prevail during a shootout in a 3-2 loss to the Providence Bruins on Saturday at the Dunkin Donuts Center. Justin Bailey and Reid Boucher were the goal scorers for Utica.
Head-to-Head: This is the second contest between the two teams this season. Bridgeport won the first matchup 5-4 in a shootout this past Friday. The Comets are 2-1-2-0 in the last five seasons on the road at Bridgeport and 4-2-4-1 overall in the last five years.
Scouting the Sound Tigers: Bridgeport comes in with a record of 9-13-3-1 and sits in last place in the Atlantic Division. They most recently fell 5-2 to the Syracuse Crunch this past Saturday. Offensively, the Sound Tigers are led by Matt Lorito and Sebastian Aho with 15 points apiece. Christopher Gibson is the top netminder with a record of 5-3-3, a 2.40 goals-against average, and a .918 save percentage.
Putting in Overtime: Expect another close game between these two teams. Dating back to the 2017-18, the Comets and Sound Tigers have gone to overtime in five straight matchups. Look for more fireworks in this one as the two teams have combined for seven or more goals in all but one of their last five games.
White Hot: The Comets power play has been unstoppable. Utica has scored a goal on the man advantage in 11 consecutive games. They’ve gone 16-50 (32%) during that stretch. Additionally, the Comets have four games with more than one power play goals during that time span. Utica’s power play ranks fourth in the league at 22.8%.
Welcome Back: A potent Comets offense just got even better. With Nikolay Goldobin and Zack MacEwen back from Vancouver and expected to be in the lineup this evening, giving the Comets even more weapons in their offensive attack. Goldobin has 20 points (8-12-20) in 18 games, while MacEwen has eight points (3-5-8) in 13 games with the Comets this season.
Streaking: Reid Boucher continues to score at a break-neck pace this season. Boucher is riding a six-game point streak into tonight, collecting nine points (4-5-9). He also sits two goals back of tying Darren Archibald’s team record for career goals scored. The forward has 27 points (17-10-27) in 19 games this year.
Next Game: The Comets are back in action Wednesday night when they host the Toronto Marlies. Puck drop is at 7 p.m. Tickets are still available at the Box Office, over the phone by calling (315) 790-9070, or online at www.empirestatetix.com. The game can be heard on 94.9 KROCK and viewed on AHL TV.