UTICA FALLS IN LAVAL ON WEDNESDAY
Jan 24, 2024Laval, PQ. — Wednesday night in the Place Bell in Laval, Quebec was the location of the sixth meeting between the Utica Comets and the Laval Rocket. The North Division opponents collided while the Comets were in the middle of a three-game road swing. Starting out with a defeat in Syracuse the previous Saturday, Utica was very much looking to get back on the winning side of the game. They battled a team that was on a nine-game point streak including winning their previous four straight contests. The Comets received two goals from Brian Halonen but it wasn’t enough to overcome two quick goals in the final period by Laval that left the Comets in a deficit they couldn’t overcome as they dropped the contest, 5-2.
In the first period, the Comets surrendered the first goal of the contest after Willian Trudeau struck after a rebound off the pad of Utica goalie, Akira Schmid at 11:26. The goal put the Comets down 1-0 but they tied the contest on the powerplay after Brian Halonen blasted the puck passed a sprawling Jakub Dobes for his sixth goal of the season. The goal locked the game at 1-1 and it was assisted by Tyler Wotherspoon and Shane Bowers.
In the middle frame, the Comets took the lead after Halonen took a perfect pass from Sam Laberge and moved down the right wing side rifling a shot that beat Dobes off the crossbar and into the net at 9:04. It was Halonen’s second of the game and his seventh of the season. Schmid continued his brilliance in the second period stopping one Laval chance after another and as the period ended, the Comets remained up, 2-0.
During the final period of regulation, Laval tied the game after an offensive zone faceoff win that saw their captain, Gabriel Borque turn and fire a puck through traffic and in at 8:09 tying the contest at 2-2. Mitchell Stephens scored at 14:44 on wrist shot followed by a goal that came 10 seconds later from Laval by Logan Mailloux at 14:54. After those two quick goals, the Comets found themselves down 4-2. Mailloux scored into the empty net to boost Laval to a 5-2 lead at 18:07.
The Comets are back in action on the road Friday night game against the Americans at the Blue Cross Arena on Friday, January 26 at 7:05 PM. The next home game for Utica will take place on this Saturday, January 27th against the Syracuse Crunch at 7:00 PM at the Adirondack Bank Center.