Comets Ride Kenins and Eriksson to Victory over the Rampage
October 24, 2014 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Utica Comets News Release
Ronalds Kenins two-goal night, and Joacim Eriksson's 38 save performance powered the Utica Comets to a 5-2 victory over the San Antonio Rampage in front of a sold out crowd at the Utica Memorial Auditorium on Friday Night
It didn't take long for the Comets to start the night's barrage of goals. Just 20 seconds after Jensen was sent to the box for hooking, Dustin Jeffrey broke out of the neutral zone to the left of San Antonio's goaltender Dan Ellis with a 2-on-1 with Brandon DeFazio. DeFazio added his second short-handed goal in as many gamess after he one-timed the pass from Jeffrey past Ellis just 4:21 into the game.
After successfully killing off Jensen's holding penalty, the Comets continued to lay on the pressure and found the back of the net again at the 13:33 mark. Kenins was credited with his first American Hockey League goal after he deflected a Peter Andersson slap shot up and over Ellis and into the back of the net.
Once the Comets killed off a string of four power play opportunities for the Rampage in the second period, they took their turn on the power play. Kenins was able to find the back of net again at the 16:36 mark of the second, for his second goal of the night. O'Reilly wristed a shot on goal, Kenins got his stick on the shot which deflected the puck up. The puck bounced off of a Rampage defenders' helmet, and slowly trickled across the goal line. Bobby Sanguinetti picked up the secondary assist on the play.
San Antonio finally got the puck past a Comets goaltender for the first time this year when Logan Shaw took a quick slapshot from the point. The puck deflected its way past the glove side of Comets goaltender Joacim Eriksson. It was the first goal scored by the opposition at The AUD in 182:34 minutes of gameplay, which takes the scoreless streak all the way back to April 18th when they faced the Toronto Marlies in their second to last game of the season.
The game ended with a flurry of goals which started when Comets' defender Travis Ehrhardt took a holding penalty at the 14:37 mark of the third period. Steven Kampfer of San Antonio was able to set up in the attacking zone and wristed home a shot past Eriksson. Up until that goal, the Comets had killed 24 consecutive penalties to start the season.
Two empty net goals in the final minute and a half of the game sealed things up for the Comets. Nicklas Jensen pushed the Comets lead to 4-2 with an empty-net goal from the red line. It looked like a communication breakdown between the Rampage bench and Dan Ellis led to Ellis skating to the bench for the extra attacker as Jensen broke the puck of the Comets zone. Looking at the empty net, Jensen fired the puck in the net from center ice. Ehrhardt and O'Reilly picked up assists on the goals.
Now down two goals, the Rampage tried the empty net approach again. Dustin Jeffrey picked up his third goal of the year with an empty-net goal with just 12 seconds to play. DeFazio and Archibald recorded the assists.
Eriksson was named first star of the game after he faced a total of 40 shots and turned away 38 for the night. This was Eriksson's first win of the season.
The Comets are back at it again tomorrow night at 7 p.m. at The AUD as they face the Toronto Marlies for the third time this season. In their last two meetings, the Comets walked away with three of four points. All fans in attendance will receive a special Comets flag.
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