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AHL Utica Comets

Gameday: Comets at Syracuse

February 21, 2014 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Utica Comets News Release


UTICA COMETS (20-23-3-4) @ SYRACUSE CRUNCH (18-23-3-5)

War Memorial at Oncenter, 7:05 pm

Radio: 94.9 K-Rock | TV: Time Warner Sports (Ch. 26)

Tonight's Game: The Utica Comets travel up the Thruway to Syracuse for the first meeting in franchise history at the War Memorial at Oncenter. Tonight's action is the second of four straight away from home, with the Comets on the road tomorrow in Binghamton and Sunday in Albany as well. 

When They Last Met: The Comets defeated the Crunch 3-1 in front of an electric crowd at The AUD for Pink The Rink night on January 31.  Brandon DeFazio, Pascal Pelletier and Darren Archibald each scored for Utica, while Joacim Eriksson turned aside 31 of 32 shots to earn the victory.  Defenseman Andrej Sustr scored the lone goal for Syracuse and Cedric Desjardins took the loss with 26 saves.

Comets Outlook: The Utica Comets capped off a three games in three days set with a thrilling 2-1 victory over the Toronto Marlies at the Ricoh Coliseum Sunday afternoon. The Comets rode a penalty killing unit that killed off 8 of 9 Toronto power play opportunities, and Joe Cannata's 25 saves for the victory. With the win the Comets improved to 20-23-3-4, and have collected a point in 11 of its past 14 games.  The Comets recorded goals from Jeremy Welsh and Pascal Pelletier. Colin Stuart, Kent Huskins, and Alex Biega picked up the Comets assists.

Crunch Outlook: The Crunch dropped the eleventh out of their past twelfth and fourth straight in a 2-1 defeat to the Norfolk Admirals.  Defenseman Dmitry Korobov scored the lone goal for the Crunch, while Chris Wagner and Emerson Etem found the back of the net for Norfolk. John Gibson turned aside all but one of the 29 shots he faced for the victory, while Cedric Paquette took the loss with 25 saves.

The Dream Joacim: Goaltender Joacim Eriksson held the opposition to two goals or less for the seventeenth time this season with his 31 save effort in Utica's 2-1 win over Rochester. The Galve, Sweden native is 14-1-0-2 in such situations. Eriksson leads all Utica goaltenders in wins (14), save percentage (.912) and goals against average (2.68). Eriksson is also tied for second in the AHL with five shutouts.

Ready Or Cannat: Netminder Joe Cannata has recorded victories in each of his past three starts. Cannata has amassed a .946 save percentage over his past four appearances.  With the win over Toronto, Cannata is 4-1-0-1 against Canadian opposition, with a .932 save percentage and a 2.30 goals against average.

Alex In Wonderland: In addition to his three game point streak, Alex Biega has five assists over his past five games played.  Biega has overtaken teammate Peter Andersson for the team lead in plus/minus this season at +10 and leads all Utica defensemen with 14 assists.

The Sixth Jense: With his goal on Saturday against Rochester, winger Nicklas Jensen now has six goals in eight games during the month of February, which leads all Utica skaters.  Jensen has also scored 11 goals over his past 18 games. The Danish native has now moved into third place on the Comet roster with 12 goals this season.

Time Well Kent: Defenseman Kent Huskins recorded two points (1-1-2) over Utica's three games this past week, with his goal on Friday at Rochester being the first shorthanded marker of his AHL career. Huskins ranks fifth on the season with a +3 rating and has recorded five points (2-3-5) over 40 games played.

Scouting The Crunch: Center Cedric Paquette leads all Crunch scorers with 32 points (14-18-32) over 49 games played. Paquette is also the team's leading goal scorer. AHL All-Star Brett Connolly has 31 points (13-18-31) this season, placing him second on the Crunch in scoring, while Vladislav Namestnikov has 30 points (13-17-30) over 33 games.

Defenseman Dmitry Korobov tops the Crunch defensive corps with 19 points (2-17-19) over 45 games played, while Matt Taormina leads all blueliners with four goals over 35 games.

Goaltenders Cedric Desjardins (23) and Kristers Gudlevskis (22) have split action this season with more than 20 games apiece.  Gudlevskis is currently representing his native Latvia at the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, where he recorded one of the most impressive performances of the tournament with 55 saves on 57 shots in a 2-1 loss to Team Canada in the quarterfinals. Desjardins leads all active netminders with a .902 save percentage and a 2.73 goals against average. Gudlevskis has also recorded four shutouts, while Desjardins has picked up two of his own and newcomer Allen York brings one to the table, from his time with Texas earlier in the season.

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