stonecoldstevebernier Posted March 18, 2017 Share Posted March 18, 2017 Comets win! 4-3 the final as Utica withstands a late push from Syracuse to take a huge two points while being outshot 38-23. There was some sloppy defensive play on the part of the Comets in the third and Syracuse had the advantage in play throughout the game, but they repaid Demko with some much deserved goal support to keep his win streak rolling. Great effort by the Carcone-Pelletier-Rendulic line which has really picked it up lately. McEneny was solid as well, although he could've come back to cover on the first Crunch goal a bit better... he just looks so poised on the point in the offensive zone. Three stars: Pelletier, McGinn (SYR), Zalewski. The Comets don't get a lot of help elsewhere; St John's wins, Toronto wins, Albany gets one point. Utica remains one point back of the final spot with a game in hand. 1st 13:22 UTI Borna Rendulic (12) ASST: Pascal Pelletier (16), Colby Robak (27) 2nd 14:42 UTI Pascal Pelletier (9) ASST: Michael Carcone (11), Borna Rendulic (9) 17:44 SYR Henri Ikonen (3) ASST: Adam Comrie (9), Tye McGinn (2) (PP) 3rd 4:05 UTI Darren Archibald (20) ASST: Evan McEneny (13), Cody Kunyk (21) (PP) 6:31 SYR Mike Halmo (16) ASST: Henri Ikonen (10), Slater Koekkoek (9) 7:01 SYR Tye McGinn (7) ASST: Erik Condra (26) 8:15 UTI Mike Zalewski (4) ASST: Jordan Subban (17), Carter Bancks (12) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beary Sweet Posted March 18, 2017 Share Posted March 18, 2017 Big win by the Comets tonight over the Crunch to pull themselves within 5 points of them. The division is wide open now imo. Zalewski scores the GWG off a tip from McEneny's point shot. Rendulic got it all started for the Comets off a nice feed by Robak as his wrister fooled the Crunch netminder. Carcone set up Pelletier with a real pretty backhand feed in the 2nd to extend the Comets lead. Archie tips one off Subban's point shot early in the 3rd to extend the Comets lead once again. Jake is still trying to reinvent himself into the player we want him to become. He had a couple shots but his 200' game is getting better and better each and every game. Not only that but he has also been working hard out on the ice every shift. With Kunyk and Valk as his regular linemates, he has started to elevate his game and the points will only come. Demko continues his hot streak with a 35 save performance. Pelletier with 1st star honours and Zalewski with 3rd star honours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hobart16 Posted March 18, 2017 Share Posted March 18, 2017 Good win at home, and the Comets hit the road for awhile so hopefully we can keep it going. All 4 lines are dangerous now. Get Gaunce, Goldobin and we will be even more dangerous. Hope Bachman has a good game for the big club and keeps his confidence up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stonecoldstevebernier Posted March 18, 2017 Share Posted March 18, 2017 2 minutes ago, hobart16 said: Good win at home, and the Comets hit the road for awhile so hopefully we can keep it going. How's the weather down there? I saw Rochester's game got postponed the other day, and there are more empty seats than usual in Utica which I assume is because of people staying home since the sellout streak is still alive and well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stierlitz Posted March 18, 2017 Share Posted March 18, 2017 22 minutes ago, Beary Sweet said: Demko continues his hot streak with a 25 save performance. Little correction - Demko with 35 saves today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beary Sweet Posted March 18, 2017 Share Posted March 18, 2017 10 minutes ago, Stierlitz said: Little correction - Demko with 35 saves today. Thanks for the correction. Misheard it. Looking forward to tomorrow's game vs Bridgeport. Go Comets! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RetroCanuck Posted March 18, 2017 Share Posted March 18, 2017 59 minutes ago, Beary Sweet said: Big win by the Comets tonight over the Crunch to pull themselves within 5 points of them. The division is wide open now imo. Zalewski scores the GWG off a tip from McEneny's point shot. Rendulic got it all started for the Comets off a nice feed by Robak as his wrister fooled the Crunch netminder. Carcone set up Pelletier with a real pretty backhand feed in the 2nd to extend the Comets lead. Archie tips one off Subban's point shot early in the 3rd to extend the Comets lead once again. Jake is still trying to reinvent himself into the player we want him to become. He had a couple shots but his 200' game is getting better and better each and every game. Not only that but he has also been working hard out on the ice every shift. With Kunyk and Valk as his regular linemates, he has started to elevate his game and the points will only come. Demko continues his hot streak with a 35 save performance. Pelletier with 1st star honours and Zalewski with 3rd star honours. how'd Virt play? Hard, creating energy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coconuts Posted March 18, 2017 Share Posted March 18, 2017 Utica's been fighting tooth and nail lately in their pursuit of the playoffs. They could have folded tonight but didn't, you've gotta admire that kind of drive and guts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stonecoldstevebernier Posted March 18, 2017 Share Posted March 18, 2017 Updated North Division standings after tonight: Syracuse, 63 GP/73 PTS Albany, 62 GP/71 PTS Toronto, 63 GP/71 PTS St. John's, 63 GP/68 PTS Utica, 62 GP/67 PTS Something to keep in mind, Utica has the tiebreaker in ROW over St. John's. This is probably a race that's going to go down to the wire and depend largely on the remaining divisional games... Utica plays Syracuse three times and each of the other three teams once in the remaining 14 games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownUndaCanuck Posted March 18, 2017 Share Posted March 18, 2017 If I was JB and WD I'd seriously consider sending down help to Utica. Yes, we want to see what we've got at the NHL level, but if we can bolster up the Comets team and get them into the playoffs, those kids playing playoff AHL games is far more valuable than losing the last few NHL games where we've given up. Get Demko, Virtanen, Gaunce and even Boucher/Goldobin some AHL playoff games and they're much better developed down the line. Might be the only playoff hockey our kids get for a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nuxfanabroad Posted March 18, 2017 Share Posted March 18, 2017 With my pc down, just heard they won. Man is Demko hot now! WTG boys!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hobart16 Posted March 18, 2017 Share Posted March 18, 2017 10 hours ago, stonecoldstevebernier said: How's the weather down there? I saw Rochester's game got postponed the other day, and there are more empty seats than usual in Utica which I assume is because of people staying home since the sellout streak is still alive and well. We had between 34 and 44 inches of snow on Tuesday. Roads were closed for a day, no postal service for a couple of days. So people are still digging out a little. Some of the usual parking around the Aud was unavailable. Quite a few cars got stuck on the road which then prevented plows from getting through. Mess for a day for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UticaHockey Posted March 18, 2017 Author Share Posted March 18, 2017 8 hours ago, DownUndaCanuck said: If I was JB and WD I'd seriously consider sending down help to Utica. Yes, we want to see what we've got at the NHL level, but if we can bolster up the Comets team and get them into the playoffs, those kids playing playoff AHL games is far more valuable than losing the last few NHL games where we've given up. Get Demko, Virtanen, Gaunce and even Boucher/Goldobin some AHL playoff games and they're much better developed down the line. Might be the only playoff hockey our kids get for a while. LaBate, Bachman, Gaunce and Goldobin were the only current Canucks added to the Comets roster on TDL day so they are the only players that can be sent down at this point. Boeser can be added only if he signs an ATO for the rest of the season. If he signs an ELC with Vancouver and plays yet this season he can't play in the AHL until next season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UticaHockey Posted March 18, 2017 Author Share Posted March 18, 2017 It's going to be a fun final 4 weeks of the season with only 6 points separating the top 5 teams in the Comets division with 4 of them making the playoffs. The Comets are the hottest team right now going 8-1-1 in their last 10 but still sit a point behind the Baby Habs for the last playoff spot with a game in hand. Good win last night even though I thought the Comets looked flat for most of it and Demko seemed to be fighting the puck a little more than he has been. I was a little concerned with Demko who looked like he might have hurt his left knee in the final minute. Luckily Syracuse called a timeout right after so he had a chance to loosen it up but he still didn't look quite right and never had to go down into a full butterfly during the remaining time. It will be interesting to see if Demko or Garteig go tonight in Bridgeport. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
groovy Posted March 18, 2017 Share Posted March 18, 2017 On 2017-03-13 at 6:18 AM, Hutton Wink said: Oh yeah! Bush league. (Nice doo). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stonecoldstevebernier Posted March 18, 2017 Share Posted March 18, 2017 Some great news for the Comets: Binghamton comes back from 4-1 down vs Toronto to win 8-4 by putting up seven goals in the third period... The Comets now have two games in hand on Toronto and are four points back. St. John's is also in action later, and Albany and Syracuse play each other so hopefully that one just ends in regulation. Utica plays Bridgeport at 4:30 our time today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesB Posted March 18, 2017 Share Posted March 18, 2017 1 hour ago, stonecoldstevebernier said: Some great news for the Comets: Binghamton comes back from 4-1 down vs Toronto to win 8-4 by putting up seven goals in the third period... The Comets now have two games in hand on Toronto and are four points back. St. John's is also in action later, and Albany and Syracuse play each other so hopefully that one just ends in regulation. Utica plays Bridgeport at 4:30 our time today. Yes, the Toronto loss is a nice surprise. It would be a huge bonus if St. John's could also lose against a fairly weak opponent. Utica will have a tough game on the road against a good team. But they are making quite a run. Hope it continues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaudette Celly Posted March 18, 2017 Share Posted March 18, 2017 1 hour ago, stonecoldstevebernier said: Some great news for the Comets: Binghamton comes back from 4-1 down vs Toronto to win 8-4 by putting up seven goals in the third period... Like daddy like baby. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stonecoldstevebernier Posted March 18, 2017 Share Posted March 18, 2017 Comets are about to get underway in Bridgeport... Demko makes the start, with Bridgeport using their backup McAdam instead of Halak. Pedan draws in for Robak on defense. Archibald-Zalewski-Grenier starts up front for Utica, so it looks like Zalewski and Cassels will swap spots for this game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stonecoldstevebernier Posted March 18, 2017 Share Posted March 18, 2017 Eight minutes in, the Comets have yet to muster a shot. Bridgeport holds a 6-0 edge and almost all of the play has been in the Comets end with Demko stifling a few nice point blank wristers. Lines today: Archibald-Zalewski-Grenier Kunyk-Valk-Virtanen Carcone-Pelletier-Rendulic Bancks-Hamilton-Cassels McEneny-Subban Billins-Shields Pedan-Sautner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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