Comets Fall Short Against Rochester on Valentine’s Day, Lose 4-1
Feb 14, 2026Utica, NY – The Comets hosted the Amerks for the final time this season and fell by a score of 4-1.
The Comets were gifted an early power play just 16 seconds into the contest when Amerks’ defenseman Vsevelod Komarov was called for a delay of game penalty but were unable to capitalize. The Comets went back to the power play a few minutes later, but the Amerks held them at bay again. Despite coming up empty on their power play opportunities, the Comets carried the play in the first period. About halfway through the frame, Dennis Cholowski fired a shot that was deflected by Jonathan Gruden past Rochester netminder Devon Levi, but it was deemed to be tipped by a high stick, and the goal was waived off. The Amerks’ best chance of the period came when Riley Fiddler-Schultz broke in on a 2-on-1 rush and fired a shot from the right circle, but Jakub Malek turned him aside.
The Comets applied more pressure to start the second period, but Devon Levi continued his strong play in net. The Comets were assessed their first penalty of the game when Dennis Cholowksi was called for tripping at 5:17. The best chance of the period for Utica came on the ensuing penalty kill when Angus Crookshank darted in on a breakaway, but Devon Levi made a big stop. After the Comets had an extended shift in the offensive zone later in the period, the Amerks countered the other way and opened the scoring when Anton Wahlberg slipped a pass to Konsta Helenius in the left circle, rifling one top corner over the blocker of Jakub Malek to give Rochester a 1-0 lead at 15:17 on his 11th of the year. The Comets found themselves on a 5-on-3 shorthanded situation shortly thereafter but killed it off to keep the score 1-0 heading into the third period.
Early in the final stanza, Comets’ forward Matyas Melovsky was assessed a major penalty for interference which was followed by a bench minor, putting the Comets down two men for the second time in the game. The Amerks cashed in on the 5-on-3 when Carson Meyer tipped a pass home from Olivier Nadeau to make it 2-0 at 3:07. The Amerks were still on an extended 5-on-4 man advantage and would tally again when Isak Rosen’s shot from the right circle was deflected by Riley Fiddler-Schultz which made it 3-0 at 4:25. The Comets pulled Jakub Malek with a little over six minutes to go in the game and were able to find the back of the net with the extra attacker when Kyle Criscuolo made a backdoor pass to Xavier Parent who snapped the shutout bid for Devon Levi, making it 3-1 at 15:14 on his ninth of the year. The Comets pulled Malek again in attempt to cut the deficit to one, but Konsta Helenius scored an empty-net goal for his second of the game to make it 4-1 at 17:39 and that was the final.
The Comets outshot the Amerks 30-22, while going 0-for-3 on the power play and 4-for-6 on the penalty kill.
The Comets are back home next Saturday at 6 pm against the Laval Rocket for 100 Years of Comets Heritage. For tickets or more information, fans can visit uticacomets.com/tickets or call 315-790-9070.