Comets Claw Within Two Points of Playoff Spot in 4-1 Win Over Bruins
Apr 17, 2026Utica, NY– The Comets hosted the Providence Bruins in their final home game of the regular season and won by a score of 4-1.
The Comets came out of the gate flying and establishing pressure in the offensive zone, with both Ethan Edwards and Jonathan Gruden hitting the post in the opening minutes of the game. It didn’t take long for the Comets to get on the board when Calen Addison’s shot from the right point was blocked in the low slot, and then Kyle Criscuolo pounced on the loose puck and hammered it home past Providence netminder Simon Zajieck to give the Comets the 1-0 lead at 3:48 of the first. It was Criscuolo’s 13th goal of the year with Calen Addison picking up the assist, the 100th of his AHL career. The Comets would go to the power play later in the period after Bruins’ forward Fabian Lysell was called for roughing. After some smooth puck movement in the offensive zone, Lenni Hameenaho fed a cross-seam pass to Matyas Melovsky who snapped a wrister from the right circle past Zajicek to give the Comets the 2-0 advantage on Melovsky’s 10th of the year from Lenni Hameenaho and Topias Vilen at 11:10. The Bruins found themselves on a 5-on-3 man advantage later in the period and would capitalize on a one-timer by Matej Blumel from the left circle that beat Nico Daws glove side to make it a 2-1 game at 18:26. It was Blumel’s 20th of the year from Georgii Merkulov.
It was all Comets to start the second period as they continued to buzz around the offensive zone and ended up drawing two penalties to go on a 5-on-3 of their own. Despite some good chances, the Bruins came up with a big kill and kept the score 2-1. The Comets would extend the lead later in the period when Xavier Parent raced into the offensive zone, fired a shot off the left pad of Simon Zajicek, and the rebound bounced right to Brian Halonen who fired it home to make it 3-1 on his 20th goal of the year at 13:46 from Xavier Parent and Matyas Melovsky. The Comets found some insurance before the end of the period when Lenni Hameenaho stole the puck in the offensive zone and slipped the puck to Angus Crookshank who buried it from the left circle to give the Comets a 4-1 lead at 18:30. It was Crookshank’s 24th of the season from Lenni Hameenaho and Colton White.
The Comets started the third period on the power play after Bruins’ forward Joey Abate was assessed a tripping minor late in the second, but Providence killed off the balance of the penalty. The Comets played another shutdown period defensively, holding the Bruins to just four shots on goal in route to a 4-1 victory, their first win against them this season. Nico Daws made 13 saves to pick up his 16th win of the year.
The Comets outshot the Bruins 34-14, while going 1-for-5 on the power play and 1-for-2 on the penalty kill.
The Comets are still in the playoff hunt and need to win tomorrow while Rochester must lose their next two games in regulation in order to clinch a playoff berth. Stay tuned on uticacomets.com and the Comets’ social media channels for more information.