COMETS TAKE ON CRUNCH IN MONDAY MATINEE
Jan 20, 2020UTICA COMETS (25-13-2-2) vs. SYRACUSE CRUNCH (19-18-2-2)
Upstate Medical University Arena, 1 p.m.
Watch Live: AHLTV | Listen Live: 94.9 K-ROCK
Follow and Interact Live: Twitter | Hashtag: #UTIvsSYR
Tonight’s Game: The Utica Comets take on the Syracuse Crunch in Game Five of the Galaxy Cup series. Puck drop is at 1 p.m.
Last Game: The Comets scored early and often en route to a 6-2 victory over the Cleveland Monsters Saturday night at the Adirondack Bank Center. Kole Lind, Carter Camper, Lukas Jasek, Seamus Malone, Nikolay Goldobin, and Reid Boucher all scored for Utica. Michael DiPietro made 24 saves in the win.
Head to Head: This is the fifth meeting between the North Division rivals this season. Utica leads the season series 3-1-0-0 and won the most recent contest 4-1 back on November 27. The Comets have outscored the Crunch 16-8 through four games.
Scouting the Crunch: Syracuse comes in with a record of 19-18-2-2 and sits in sixth place in the North Division. They most recently beat the Binghamton Devils 6-5 Saturday night. Alex Barre-Boulet is the leading scorer with 35 points, followed by Cory Conacher with 34 points. Scott Wedgewood is the top netminder with a record of 7-4-1, a 3.00 goals-against average, and .891 save percentage.
Scoring Explosion: The Comets have been scoring at a breakneck pace lately. The Comets have scored five or more goals in four of their last five games, all of which have been wins. The Comets have scored 153 goals this season, which leads the league.
Crushing the Crunch: Reid Boucher has played extremely well against the Crunch as a member of the Comets. Boucher has six points (5-1-6) in three games against Syracuse this season and 21 points (11-10-21) in 19 career games against the Crunch. Overall, Boucher has 48 points (23-25-48) in 37 games this season.
Gold Standard: Nikolay Goldobin is on fire. Goldobin has eight points (2-6-8) in his last three games, including a four-point effort Saturday night, and four of his last six games have been multi-point efforts. Overall, the forward has 40 points (14-26-40) in 36 games this year.
Under the Radar: Olli Juolevi has quietly been having a strong season. Juolevi has recorded at least a point in three straight game and five of his last six games. He has picked up six points (1-5-6) during that stretch. The defenseman has a career-high 19 points (2-17-19) in 33 games.
Next Game: The Comets are back in action Wednesday night when the play host to the Binghamton Devils. 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 AHLTV.