Comets Lose to Crunch in Overtime, 4-3
January 15, 2022 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Utica Comets News Release
Utica, NY - The Comets battled their divisional rival, the Syracuse Crunch for the second time in as many night after coming off an overtime victory at home the night before. This time the teams needed overtime and it was the Crunch who skate away with the overtime victory.
The Comets started the scoring in the first period when team captain Ryan Schmelzer sent the puck right to an open Joe Gambardella who struck for his fourth goal of the season giving the team a 1-0 lead at 11:44. Daws, who made his return to action for his first game since December 8th after an injury, faced eight shots in the first period and stopped all eight.
In the second period, the Crunch tied the contest on a short-handed goal by Charles Hudon after he wristed a shot low to the glove side on Daws. The goal at 5:30 made it a 1-1 game.
In the final period of regulation, both goaltenders traded dazzling saves but it was Otto Somppi who found the loose puck in the Utica zone and sent it to the stick of Gabriel Fortier who fired it over the right shoulder of Daws to put the Crunch up 2-1. Just moments later, Maxim Cajkovic who was the beneficiary of a rebound in front of Daws and he made no mistake potting the goal that put Syracuse up 3-1. Nolan Foote carried the puck into the offensive zone and sent it over to Nate Schnarr who fired a one-timer past Crunch goalie Hugo Alnefelt at 12:02 cutting the deficit to 3-2. Foote would factor again on the scoring when he struck on a perfect shot that beat Alnefelt at 16:10 and tied the game at 3-3.
In the overtime period, it was the Crunch who capitalized on a power play when Charles Hudon struck for a goal at 2:13 after finding a deflected puck onto his stick and blasting it into the net lifting his team to a 4-3 win.
The Comets will be in action Wednesday night on the road against the Laval Rocket with a 7:30 PM puck drop before heading to Syracuse once again for a road game on Friday night. The team will return home on Saturday, January 22, to face the Crunch at home once again. Tickets are still available. For more information, visit uticacomets.com/tickets for more information.
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