Comets Fall to Penguins in Pre Season Opener
October 2, 2014 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Utica Comets News Release
The Utica Comets opened up their three-game preseason schedule with a 4-2 loss at the hands of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza in Wilkes-Barre, PA on Wednesday night.
Carter Bancks and rookie Brendan Gaunce netted goals for the Comets, while Jacob Markstrom turned aside 23 of 27 shots faced in his Comets debut. Conor Sheary led the way for the Penguins with three points (1-2-3) on the night.
The Penguins got on the board 10:13 into the first period when Sheary fired a shot on Comets goaltender Jacob Markstrom who made the initial stop. Sheary picked up the rebound and fed a pass over to Bryan Rust in the slot, who buried a one-timer.
Scott Wilson added a power-play goal later in the first to extend the Penguins lead to 2-0. Jayson Megna cleanly won the face-off in the Comets zone to Wilson, who ripped a shot through traffic and past Markstrom.
Just 1:44 into the second period, the Penguins found the back of the net again after Sheary lifted a rebound over the extended pad of Markstrom, to inflate their lead to 3-0. Bryan Rust recorded an assist with his initial shot on net.
Carter Bancks recorded the first goal of the 2014-15 preseason for the Comets with a slapshot off the post and into Mike Murray's net. 2006 first round draft pick Bobby Sanguinetti recorded an assist on the goal.
The Penguins got their final tally of the evening, on a blast from the blue line from Nick D'Agnostino that found its way through traffic and past Markstrom 7:45 into the final period.
Brendan Gaunce concluded the night's scoring with just 1:05 left to play in the game. The 2012 first round draft pick took a feed from Stefan Legien and beat Murray for his first goal as a Comet.
The Comets are back in action Friday night as they take on the Adirondack Flames at the sold out John F. Kennedy Arena in Rome, NY at 7pm.
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