RIVALRY NIGHT RETURNS TO UTICA AS COMETS BATTLE CRUNCH
Jan 12, 2018UTICA COMETS (16-13-7) vs. SYRACUSE CRUNCH (21-12-3)
Adirondack Bank Center, 7 p.m.
Watch Live: AHL Live | Listen Live: 94.9 K-ROCK, Desktop or Mobile
Follow and Interact Live: Twitter | Hashtag: #SYRvsUTI
Tonight’s Game: The Utica Comets battle the Syracuse Crunch in game five of the Galaxy Cup series. Puck drop is at 7 p.m.
Last Game: The Utica Comets defeated the Laval Rocket by a score of 5-1 Wednesday night at Place Bell. Chris Terry scored first to give Laval a 1-0 lead at the 7:12 mark of the first period. Marco Roy responded 1:18 later, tipping a shot from Guillaume Brisebois. Vincent Arseneau also picked up an assist. Philip Holm netted a power play strike 1:13 later. Reid Boucher and Cole Cassels tallied the assists. Adam Comrie extended the lead to 3-1 with a power play goal just 10 seconds into the man advantage. Patrick Wiercioch and Dylan Blujus collected the assists. Andrew Cherniwchan continued the onslaught with a goal two and a half minutes into the second period. Jalen Chatfield had the lone assist. Cassels buried a late power play goal to make it 5-1.Wiercioch and Comrie had the assists. Demko made 36 saves to improve his record to 13-6-5.
Head-to-Head: This is the fifth meeting between the two teams this season. The Comets lead the season series 2-1-1, but Syracuse won the most recent meeting 3-2 in a shootout on December 30. The Crunch are outscoring the Comets 12-8 through four games.
Scouting the Crunch: Syracuse comes in with a record of 21-12-3 and have won six straight games. Matthew Peca is the leading point scorer with 28 points, followed by Adam Erne with 24 points. Connor Ingram is the leading active goaltender with a record of 9-5-1, a 2.39 goals-against average, and .901% save percentage.
Catching Fire: The Comets power play has been hard to stop over the last few games. Since going five games without a power play goal, the Comets have responded with at least one goal on the man advantage in three straight games, including a 3-4 performance Wednesday night. Utica’s power play ranks eighth in the AHL at 19.5%.
Light ‘Em Up: A big part of the Comets’ three-game win streak can be attributed to their offensive explosion. The Comets have netted 15 goals over the last three games from seven different scorers. The Comets’ season-high for goals scored in a single game is seven.
Right at Holm: Philip Holm has been playing some of his best hockey over the last month. Holm is riding a three-game point streak into tonight’s matchup and eight points in his last 11 games. The Swedish defenseman has racked up 19 points (7-12-19) in 29 games this season.
Making His Mark: Cole Cassels continues to be a point machine for the Comets. Cassels is riding a three-game point streak and a four-game point streak on home ice and has registered 12 points in his last 12 games. The third-year forward has collected a career-high 13 points (3-10-13) in 30 games this season. The 10 assists is also a career-high for the Hartford, CT native.
Next Game: The Comets are back in action tomorrow night as they hit the road to faceoff against the Binghamton Devils. Puck drop at the Floyd L Maine. Veteran’s Memorial Arena is at 7:05 p.m. The game can be heard on 94.9 KROCK and viewed on AHL Live.