Comets Stay Hot, Extend Win Streak to 4
Published on March 6, 2026 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Utica Comets News Release
Utica, NY - The Comets hosted Belleville for the second straight Friday and defeated the Senators 5-2.
It was a fiery start to the game with Nathan Legare squaring off against Senators' defenseman Jorian Donovan just 1:45 into the game in an evenly matched bout. The Comets headed to the penalty kill a few minutes later when Ethan Edwards was called for holding, but they held the Senators off the board. The Senators nearly took a 1-0 lead when Oskar Pettersson stole the puck in front of the Comets' net, but Jakub Malek made a great glove save to keep things scoreless. The Comets went to the power play towards the end of the first when Hayden Hodgson was called for slashing, and with just 0.6 seconds left in the frame, Xavier Parent found a loose puck in the left circle on a pass from Shane Lachance, and snapped it home low blocker side past Belleville netminder Leevi Merilainen to give the Comets the 1-0 lead on Parent's 15th of the year.
The Comets controlled the pace in the second period, outshooting Belleville 12-2, but Leevi Merilainen made some big saves to keep it a 1-0 game. Later in the period, shortly after a Belleville power play had expired, the Senators got on the board when Landon Hookey fired a shot from the high slot that was tipped by Garrett Pilon and snuck past Jakub Malek to tie the game at one at the 14:03 mark for his seventh of the year.
The Comets headed to the penalty kill early in the third when Xavier Parent was called for hooking, but just 11 seconds into the kill, the Comets broke in on a 2-on-1 and it was Ryan Schmelzer feeding Jonathan Gruden in the right circle who tipped one home top shelf to give the Comets a 2-1 lead at the 1:30 mark on Gruden's seventh of the year. A couple minutes later, the Comets found themselves on another odd-man rush when Xavier Parent slipped a pass across to Brian Halonen who tapped one past Merilainen to make it 3-1 at 3:35 on Halonen's 17th of the year. Schmelzer picked up the secondary assist. The Comets weren't done and would strike again at 6:55 when Ethan Edwards wheeled a shot from the left circle that pinballed off a couple of Belleville skaters and into the net to make it 4-1. It was Edwards' 10th of the year from Gruden and Malone. Belleville got one back when Tyler Boucher's shot from the right circle broke through Malek at the 11:50 mark on his seventh of the year to make it 4-2. The Senators got one more power play later in the third and pulled Merilainen to make it a 6-on-4 advantage, but Topias Vilen scored an empty-netter, his fourth goal of the year, at 18:22 to make it 5-2. It was the Comets' second shorthanded goal of the game and league-leading 10th of the year as a team as they extended the winning streak to four games, pulling to within one point of Belleville in the standings.
The Comets outshot the Senators 27-13 and went 1-for-3 on the power play while going 5-for-5 on the penalty kill.
The Comets are back home on Sunday at 3 pm against the Syracuse Crunch. For tickets or more information, fans can visit uticacomets.com/tickets or call 315-790-9070.
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