Osipov's Late-Game Heroics Caps Off Comets' Comeback Win over Penguins
Oct 30, 2026Utica, NY – The Utica Comets welcomed the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins to town on Frights & Flights Night and came away with a dramatic 4-3 win.
The Penguins had their skating legs in the early going and jumped out to a 1-0 lead when they disrupted a Comets' breakout as the puck found its way onto the stick of forward Melvin Fernstrom who snapped one past the glove of David Rittich for his second of the year at 2:54. Just moments later, however, the Comets would find the equalizer when Lenni Hameenaho made a great play to strip the puck from Wilkes-Barre possession at the Comets' defensive blue line, skated in on a breakaway and beat Penguins netminder Joel Blomqvist with a sweet move to the backhand to tie the game at one on his fourth of the year at 4:54. The Comets headed to the power play later on in the period with a chance to take the lead, but it was the Penguins who would capitalize when Avery Hayes stole the puck, rushed up ice on a 2-on-2, cut across the slot to the right circle and fired a laser high glove side past Rittich to make it 2-1 at 10:07 on his sixth of the year.
The Comets had a stronger start to the second and were the better team for much of the period, but it was the Penguins who scored on their first shot of the second stanza when Bill Zonnon snapped home a centering pass from Atley Calvert past the blocker of David Rittich to make it 3-1 at 5:43. The Comets responded later in the period when Riley Tufte fired a shot from the left point, which was tipped home by Ryan Schmelzer to make it 3-2 at 13:48 on his second of the year. Just eight seconds later, Shane Lachance corralled a loose puck at center ice, muscled his way past a couple checks, walked into the right circle and shoveled one high short side past Joel Blomqvist to tie the game at three on his second of the year.
The teams entered the final frame tied at three, and it was a back-and-forth, evenly matched period with chances at both ends. The Comets started to tilt the ice late in the third period and after an extended shift in the offensive zone, Ethan Edwards found Dmitry Osipov open in the right circle who snapped a laser high glove side past Blomqvist to give the Comets a 4-3 lead with just 30.8 seconds left in regulation for his first goal of the year. Ryan Schmelzer picked up the secondary assist. The Comets locked things down in the final 30 seconds and came away with a huge two points to get back in the win column and improve to 5-2 on the year.
The Comets outshot the Penguins 24-23, while going 0-for-5 on the power play and 2-for-2 on the penalty kill.
The Comets are back home this Sunday, November 1st against the Hamilton Hammers at 3 PM. For tickets, please visit uticacomets.com/tickets or call 315-790-9070.