Gameday: Comets at Toronto
April 6, 2014 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Utica Comets News Release
UTICA COMETS (31-29-5-4) @ TORONTO MARLIES (41-22-2-4)
Ricoh Coliseum, 3pm
Radio: 94.9 K-Rock
Tonight's Game: The Utica Comets conclude their three-in-three set this afternoon in Toronto, with a 3:00 p.m. showdown at Ricoh Coliseum. The Comets sit four points out of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference, trailing the trio of Rochester, Oklahoma City and Charlotte, who are tied at 75 points each.
When They Last Met: The Utica Comets used a team record five-goal second period to surge past the visiting Toronto Marlies on Friday evening in front of a sold out and rambunctious Utica Memorial Auditorium. Pascal Pelletier once again led the way with two goals, while Alex Friesen (1-1-2) and Kellan Lain (0-2-2) also had multi-point evenings. Winger Brandon DeFazio and defenseman Frank Corrado also scored for Utica. Joacim Eriksson turned aside 21 of 22 shots, as he earned his 22nd victory of the season.
Comets Outlook: The Utica Comets suffered a gut wrenching loss at the hands of their rivals, the Syracuse Crunch, 6-5 in overtime on Saturday evening at the War Memorial Syracuse. Syracuse scored three times in the final 99 seconds, before ending the game in overtime. Alex Friesen led the Comets offensively with two goals an assist, while Vlad Namestnikov had three points of his own (1-2-3) for the Crunch. Joacim Eriksson took the loss for the Comets, with 25 saves on 31 shots.
Marlies Outlook: Toronto suffered a tough loss of its own last night, a 4-3 decision to the Rochester Americans. Toronto surrendered four, third period goals, including two within the final minute of play. Former Utica Comet Brayden Irwin collected four assists, while Tim Schaller had a hat trick. Josh Leivo led the Marlies with two goals. Christopher Gibson made 39 saves, but took the defeat for Toronto.
Friese Agents: Utica Comets center Alex Friesen has been on a tear as of late, continued last evening with his three point effort (2-1-3) in Syracuse. Friesen has now recorded 14 points over his past 13 games. The St. Catharine's, ONT native had recorded just 11 points (1-10-11) over his 86 prior games between the AHL and ECHL levels.
Grin And Jere It: Center Jeremy Welsh is currently riding a team best five game point streak, extended by his first two point effort (1-1-2) of the season last evening in Syracuse. Welsh, who has goals in three of his past four games, also tied his AHL career high of two points and is a +3 rating during his scoring streak.
Let It Biega: Defenseman Alex Biega tied a career high of his own with two points last evening, both coming via assists. Biega now sits fourth amongst active and healthy Comets with 18 assists on the season and leads all Utica defensemen with 21 points (3-18-21). The Harvard University graduate also leads all blue liners with a +3 rating.
Getting Powerful Again: The Utica Comets power play has struck fire as of late, capped off by two power-play tallies last night in Syracuse. Last night marked the third time in the past six games the Comets had multiple power-play goals. Over that span, the team is seven of 22, good for a 32 percent clip. Utica has also converted on five of its past 12 attempts.
Scouting The Marlies: Spencer Abbott leads the Marlies in scoring with 69 points (17-52-69) over 64 games played. Abbott is the AHL's second leading scorer, behind only Texas' Travis Morin and his 52 assists are the most in the league. Forward Trevor Smith has also thrived in limited AHL action this season. Smith has amassed 24 points (10-14-24) over just 19 games played.
Toronto also has the top scoring defenseman in the AHL in TJ Brennan, who leads all blueliners with 65 points (22-43-65). Brennan, who tops his closest competitor by nine points, is also the only defenseman in the AHL with 20 or more goals. Brennan's 22 tallies also lead the Marlies.
Drew MacIntyre has led the Marlies this season between the pipes, with 46 games played. MacIntrye has been amongst the AHL leaders all season and he enters this week of action with 27 wins, good for second in the league. MacIntrye is also second in the league with 1,276 saves and minutes played with 2,743:47 and enters tonight's action with a .918 save percentage and a 2.49 goals against average.
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