COMETS BLAST ROCKET, WIN 6-3
Nov 18, 2023Utica, NY. — Coming off an overtime defeat on the road the night before, the Utica Comets took to home ice inside the Adirondack Bank Center to battle a divisional foe, the Laval Rocket. With a sold-out crowd steadfastly behind them, the Comets went into the third period tied but found the offense necessary to achieve a victory and two more points in the standings with an explosive 6-3 victory on the strength of a three goal outburst in the final period of regulation.
In the first period, the Rocket struck for a shorthanded tally when Joel Armia snuck the puck just passed Comets goalie, Isaac Poulter at 3:03. But, it didn’t take long for the Comets continued pressure to result in a goal and it was Shane Bowers who back-handed a loose puck in front of Laval netminder, Strauss Mann at 7:32. It was Bowers fourth goal of the year and it was assisted by Simon Nemec. Utica added another goal and it was Sam Laberge who banked the puck off the post and into the Laval net at 14:11. It was his first goal of the year with Michael Vukojoevic and Filip Engaras adding assists. The game was 2-1 for Utica after twenty minutes of play.
The second period saw the Comets fall behind after giving up goals to Logan Mailloux and Nathan Legare at 37 seconds and 9:18 respectively with the latter being a shorthanded goal against the Comets. With Utica down 3-1, they tied the game and it was Timur Ibragimov who deflected a shot by Sam Laberge at 15:35. Ibragimov scored his first of the season with Engaras adding a secondary assist to tie the game at 3-3 through forty minutes of play.
Timur Ibragimov scored his second goal of the game during the third period to put the Comets up 4-3 at 9:01 with a hard slapshot that sailed passed Mann. The goal was assisted by Laberge for his second assist of the night. Engaras added another goal for Utica at 17:50 as he skated down the ice and slid the puck into the empty net as the Rocket pulled their netminder for an extra attacker. The goal put Utica up 5-3. Santeri Hatakka also added an empty net goal with just 59 seconds left lifting the team to a 6-3 decision.
The Comets are back in action Wednesday night against the Syracuse Crunch inside the Adirondack Bank Center at 7:00 PM.
Single game tickets are now available for the 2023-24 season. Visit uticacomets.com/tickets for more information. Season Ticket Memberships are also available for the 2023-24 Season. Tickets are still available. Visit www.uticacomets.com/tickets for more information.