Comets Victorious in Season Opener against Amerks
February 5, 2021 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Utica Comets News Release
Utica, NY - The Comets opened the season on the road against the Rochester Americans on Friday night and defeated their division rival by a score of 3-2.
The victory was made possible thanks to a splendid effort by goaltender Jon Gillies and scoring by forwards Kole Lind and Lukas Jasek.
In the first period, Comets forward Kole Lind scored the first goal of the season when he fired a wrist shot over the glove of Rochester netminder Dustin Tokarski at 9:43 putting the Comets up 1-0. As the period went on, Rochester answered late in the period when Patrick McGrath sent a rebound passed Gillies after the initial save was made on the Dominic Franco shot at 19:34.
The only goal of the second period was tallied by the Comets after Lukas Jasek saw an open Jonah Gadjovich in the slot. Gadjovich wasted no time firing a puck home for a 2-1 lead.
In the final period of regulation, both teams tallied a powerplay goal. Lind struck for his second of the when he fired a pass from Sam Anas, who registered his second assist of the night, passed Tokarski at 6:55. The Amerks would get a powerplay goal of their own after Arrtu Ruotsalainen beat Gillies with a one-timer at 8:53 to bring his team within one. However, it wasn't enough and the Comets skated away with the victory and two points to start the season. Sven Baertschi, Mitch Reinke also added assists in the game and the Comets went 1 for 6 on the powerplay.
The Comets will take on the Syracuse Crunch tomorrow for game two on the road at 7:00pm.
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