COMETS WIN STREAK SNAPPED AGAINST SYRACUSE
Nov 14, 2026Utica, NY – The Utica Comets welcomed the Syracuse Crunch to town on Saturday night and lost by a score of 3-2.
The Comets started the game with an exclamation point when Mikael Diotte raced into the offensive zone and fired a missile top corner past Crunch netminder Olivier Rodrigue from the top of the right circle for his first of the year to give the Comets the 1-0 lead just 2:06 into the game with Gabe Klassen and Jeremy Wilmer picking up the assists. The Comets were able to kill off a penalty just over a minute after Diotte's goal, but the Crunch would find the equalizer at the 7:26 mark when Tristan Allard jumped on a loose puck out of a net mouth scramble and slipped one past David Rittich to tie the game at one on his first of the year.
The Comets had a strong start to the second period, but Olivier Rodrigue made some big stops. His best save of the period came when Justin Pearson intercepted a pass and skated in on a breakaway shorthanded but couldn't beat Rodrigue between the pads. The Crunch would eventually gain the lead with a power play goal from Elliott Desnoyers on a nice shot from the left circle at 17:50 to make it a 2-1 game.
The Comets entered the third period with 28 seconds left on their power play but were held at bay. The Crunch added an insurance tally later in the third when Gabriel Szturc poked home a loose puck past Rittich at 7:38 to make it 3-1. The Comets clawed back to within a goal when Riley Tufte fired a laser past Rodrigue for his first of the year at 11:24 to make it 3-2. Ben Steeves and Matyas Melovsky picked up the assists. The Comets put forth an aggressive push but were unable to find the equalizer as their winning streak came to an end.
The Comets outshot the Crunch 33-16, while going 0-for-3 on the power play and 2-for-3 on the penalty kill.
The Comets are back home on Thanksgiving Eve against the Hartford Wolf Pack at 7 PM. For tickets, please visit uticacomets.com/tickets or call 315-790-9070.