Comets Cruise to Season Sweep of Pirates
February 17, 2016 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Utica Comets News Release
UTICA, N.Y. - Once again the Utica Comets special teams stepped up to lead the team to a 5-2 win over the Portland Pirates. Buoyed by a power-play goal and a short-handed tally, the Comets completed the season sweep of the Pirates with a perfect 4-0 record.
Alexandre Grenier (1-2-3) exploded for three points, including the eventual game-winning goal in the second period. Brendan Gaunce (0-2-2) and Jon Landry (1-1-2) recorded multi-point games for the Comets, while Joe Cannata made 33 saves for his 14th victory of the season. Gaunce's multi-point game gives him eight points (4-4-8) in his last five games.
Brandon Prust, in his first period as a member of the Comets, kicked off the party at The AUD the right way. After he received a pass in the slot from Landry, Prust spun and fired a wrist shot on net that Joseph LaBate redirected past McKenna for his fifth of the season. The goal came just 7:06 into the game.
Chris Higgins doubled the Comets lead a little over eight minutes later when he buried a short-handed breakaway goal. Brendan Gaunce and Andrey Pedan assisted on the marker.
The lead was stretched to 3-0 when Grenier tapped home a beautiful back door feed from defenseman John Negrin in the second period. Gaunce's second assist came when he picked up the secondary assist on the goal.
The Pirates picked up a short-handed goal of their own in the third, but the Jon Landry quickly erased their tally with a power-play goal just 49 seconds thereafter.
With a little over seven minutes remaining in the game, Hunter Shinkaruk inched a goal closer to the franchise record for goals scored in a single season when he sniped a wrist shot over the glove of goaltender Mike McKenna.
Tyler Sikura jammed a loose puck past Cannata 30 seconds later to make the final score 5-2.
With the win the Comets improved to 25-17-4-3, and they have now collected 15 out of a possible 16 points over their last eight games.
The Comets will be on the road Friday night as they meet the Crunch at the OnCenter in Syracuse, puck drop is scheduled for 7:00pm.
• Discuss this story on the American Hockey League message board...
American Hockey League Stories from February 17, 2016
- IceCaps Come Back to Defeat Crunch, 3-2, in Shootout - Syracuse Crunch
- Mantha Nets First Hat Trick in Griffins' 4-1 Win - Grand Rapids Griffins
- Comets Cruise to Season Sweep of Pirates - Utica Comets
- Adam Seals Game for Wolf Pack 3-2 over Providence - Hartford Wolf Pack
- John Scott Scores as IceCaps Top Crunch - St. John's IceCaps
- Admirals Fall to Griffins - Milwaukee Admirals
- Hartford Deals Providence First Regulation Loss of 2016 - Providence Bruins
- Sommer Hits AHL Wins Record at Home Before Barracuda Hit the Road - San Jose Barracuda
- Cormier's Hat Trick Sinks IceHogs on School Day Game - Rockford IceHogs
- Blackhawks Assign Scuderi to IceHogs - Rockford IceHogs
- Jaskin and Copley Reassigned to Wolves - Chicago Wolves
- Goaltender Peter Budaj Returns to Reign from Kings - Ontario Reign
- Bourque Reassigned to Milwaukee on LTI - Milwaukee Admirals
- Iowa Sends Knight to Quad City - Iowa Wild
- Amerks Players to Sign Autographs at the Strong Museum on Thursday, February 18 - Rochester Americans
- Syracuse Crunch Owner Howard Dolgon to Hold Fan Forum February 20 - Syracuse Crunch
- Manitoba Moose Post-Game Report - Manitoba at Rockford - February 17 - Manitoba Moose
- Pink in the Rink Raises over $30,000 for Susan G. Komen of Iowa - Iowa Wild
- Khudobin Re-Joins Gulls - San Diego Gulls
- Falcons Sign Robinson, Release Vazzano - Springfield Falcons
- Oilers Recall Nilsson and Assign Brossoit to Bakersfield - Bakersfield Condors
- Ontario Reign Game Preview: Reign Look to Return to Win Column Tonight vs. Stockton - Ontario Reign
- Heat Look for Big Road Win against Ontario Tonight at 7 - Stockton Heat
- Penguins Reassign Loney, Seymour - Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins
- Dallas Reassigns McKenzie to Texas - Texas Stars
- School Day Game Features IceHogs and Moose - Rockford IceHogs
- Royal Newfoundland Regiment Jerseys to be Auctioned - St. John's IceCaps
- Saros, Admirals King Checkers - Milwaukee Admirals
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
