COMETS BESTED BY CRUNCH
Dec 28, 2018Syracuse, N.Y. – The Utica Comets fell behind early and stumbled all the way as they dropped a 10-1 decision to the Syracuse Crunch on Friday at the War Memorial.
Needing only 4:11 of game time to start the scoring, Syracuse set the tone off the opening drop and didn’t stop from there. Nolan Valleau made it 1-0 with a high-slot wrist shot, Carter Verhaeghe earned his 12th of the year on a backdoor play, and Cal Foote made it 3-0 in favor of the Crunch before the period came to a close. Taylor Raddysh assisted on all three goals and Boris Katchouk had two assists in the frame.
The efficiency of the home team continued into the second period with Syracuse adding two more in the first dozen minutes. Troy Bourke notched his first of the season, and the goal marked the end of the night for Ivan Kulbakov, who was removed in favor of Thatcher Demko. Verhaeghe second of the night made it 5-0, nine minutes into Demko’s takeover.
The Comets continued to plug away and were eventually rewarded in front of the Crunch goal. Cam Darcy executed a toe drag that opened room for a shot that was initially stopped by Eddie Pasquale, but Vincent Arseneau spotted the rebound and buried a put-back try for his first of the year. It was as close as Utica would get in the second, as Cory Conacher generated a shorthanded goal with under two minutes remaining in the period. Kulbakov returned to the goal to start the third period.
The Crunch padded their already-comfortable lead with four third-period goals and cruised to a comfortable win by a 10-1 margin.
The Comets return home tomorrow night to battle the Rochester Americans. Puck drop at the Adirondack Bank Center is at 7 p.m. Fans are encouraged to use the ticket exchange site, StubHub!. The game can be heard on 94.9 KROCK and viewed on AHL TV.