Comets Party Crashed by Crunch in OT
December 13, 2014 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Utica Comets News Release
The Utica Comets lost in overtime for the second night in a row in a 2-1 final in front of a sold out crowd at The Utica Memorial Auditorium on Saturday evening. In a total of eight sold-out games this season, the Comets still boast a record of 6-0-2-0.
Brandon DeFazio scored the only goal tonight for the Comets bringing his point total to 15 on the season. Despite letting in two goals, Joacim Eriksson still stopped 29 of the Crunch's 31 shots.
The first goal of the game wasn't found until just after the fifteen-minute mark in the third period when the Comets won a face-off in the attacking zone. DeFazio ripped one home directly off of a feed from Henrik Tommernes for the 1-0 lead and his ninth goal of the season. Bobby Sanguinetti has recorded a point in five consecutive games with an assist on the play.
Syracuse found the equalizer just over two minutes left in the third period after a rush towards the Comets crease. Syracuse's captain Mike Angelidis popped the puck in off the blade of his skate for the 1-1 equalizer that pushed the game to extra time. Henri Ikonen and Joey Mormina both tallied assists on the play.
Even with the defensive efforts and Eriksson's spectacular performance, the Crunch's forwards found a way to net the game-winner with one minute left in the overtime period. In what looked like a tic-tac-toe play started by Momina, Tanner Richard found the puck to the right side of Eriksson. After Eriksson slid across the crease, the puck was then fed to the opposite side where Yanni Gourde waited to eventually crack it in the net for 2-1 game-winner.
Even with the loss tonight, the Vancouver Canucks' affiliate continues to impress the Utica fan base by tallying another point after tonight's contest and holding on to their first place lead within the entire American Hockey League with a total of 39 points on the season.
Next week, the Comets will play one last game at The AUD before they await the arrival of the jolly old man in red this holiday. The boys in blue will host the Texas Stars on Friday, Dec. 19 for their third match-up of the season. In their previous two match-ups both teams have tallied a win each, and have both recorded four goals in total.
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