Comets Drop First Game of February in Laval, 6-2
Feb 4, 2026Laval, QC – The Comets headed north for their third game in Laval this season and lost by a score of 6-2.
The Rocket jumped out to an early 1-0 lead when Marc Del Gaizo set up Laurent Dauphin at the top of the crease who buried his own rebound, beating Jakub Malek at the 3:50 mark of the first for his 14th goal of the year and league-leading 50th point of the season. Later in the period, it was Del Gaizo getting involved in the action again as his centering pass caromed off the skate of Vincent Arseneau and into the net to make it 2-0. The play was reviewed, but the call on the ice stood as Arseneau picked up his third goal of the year at 11:22. Laval got another fortuitous bounce a few minutes later when defenseman William Trudeau’s shot from the left circle deflected off a Utica skate and past Malek to make it 3-0 at 15:14 on his seventh of the year. Shortly thereafter, Nathan Legare dropped the gloves with Luke Tuch in attempt to reverse the momentum of the game in an evenly matched bout. Immediately after play resumed, Jackson van de Leest squared off against Vincent Arseneau for his first fight of the season. The Rocket would unfortunately tally once more before the end of the period when Joshua Roy intercepted a pass from behind the Utica net and fed Filip Mesar in front who beat Malek stick side to make it 4-0 at 19:08 on his sixth of the year.
The Rocket picked up right where they left off in the first period, scoring just 37 seconds into the second when Tyler Thorpe received a pass in the right circle from Xavier Simoneau and snapped one past Malek blocker side to make it 5-0 on his second goal of the year. That ended the night for Jakub Malek as Nico Daws came in on relief. The Comets found their stride as the period went along and got on the board at 12:04 when Jackson van de Leest lugged the puck into the attacking zone and found Angus Crookshank who slipped a backhand over the glove of Laval netminder Jacob Fowler to make it 5-1. It was Crookshank’s 11th goal of the year. The Rocket would restore the five-goal lead when their top line combined for a strike at 16:09 with Sean Farrell deflecting home a pass from Laurent Dauphin for his 12th of the season. The Comets got one back at the end of the second when Cam Squires broke into the right circle and fed Josh Filmon on the back post, who tapped one past Fowler to make it 6-2 at 19:33 for his second of the year. Ethan Edwards picked up the secondary assist to extend his point streak to three games.
The Comets were awarded their first power play of the game early in the third when Florian Xhekaj was called for roughing, but were held off the score board. Utica played solid defensively in the third period, holding Laval to eight shots on goal. The Comets best chance of the period came off the stick of Ryan Schmelzer who hit the post on the glove side of Jacob Fowler. The Comets also continued their strong work on the penalty kill, staving off a Laval 5-on-3 power play. Nico Daws was solid in his relief appearance, stopping 15 of 16 in the 6-2 loss.
The Comets were outshot by the Rocket 33-26, while going went 0-for-1 on the power play and 4-for-4 on the penalty kill.
The Comets are back home on Friday at 7 pm against the Bridgeport Islanders. For tickets or more information, fans can visit uticacomets.com/tickets or call 315-790-9070.