WILKES-BARRE, PA – The Comets entered Tuesday evening in the midst of a four game win streak that began back on October 30th with a 4-3 comeback victory at home over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. This time, Utica was on the road against that same Penguins team, and by the end of the night, their win streak had increased to five, with a decisive 4-0 victory, powered by a brilliant performance from goaltender David Rittich.
Similar to Utica, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton entered the matchup on a three game win streak, and they were fresh off of a two game sweep on the road against the Charlotte Checkers. That being said, in both matchups against Charlotte, the Penguins were shutout through at least the first period, including the first of those two games where they trailed 3-0 midway through the third period.
“We’re learning that every play matters,” Penguins head coach Kirk MacDonald said about the team’s slow starts. “We had a breakdown here or there that ended up in the back of our net. We’re just continuing to learn that you can’t be casual in certain situations, because then we’re down and we’re chasing it after the first period.”
While the scoreboard may not have shown it, the Penguins created a couple great scoring chances in the opening frame. The problem for the Penguins was David Rittich, the goaltender for Utica that denied every single shot that the Penguins took, all 25 of them.
Penguins’ goaltender Joel Blomqvist also played better than the scoreboard might show, keeping the Comets at bay for a very large chunk of the game, including the first period where he came up with 14 saves. Utica did get one past Blomqvist midway through the first frame, on a shot from Anton Silaev that was tipped in front by Stefan Noesen.
Problems began to arise for the Penguins in the late stages of the first period when the Comets really began to control the time of possession. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton struggled to get the puck out of their own zone, forcing them to play a good amount of defense in the final few minutes of the opening frame. While that also persisted through most of the second period as well, all 10 of Utica’s shots from the middle frame were denied by Blomqvist.
“I thought he did a really good job, it’s unfortunate that we don’t help him out much there,” coach MacDonald said about Blomqvist’s performance. “The goaltending on both sides was really good, but they out-executed us in a couple areas, and that’s the ball game.”
Utica entered the third period with a 25-15 shot advantage, and at one point in that final frame, the Comets were outshooting the Penguins 32-16, scoring three more goals in the process. Their first goal came just three minutes into third, after a shot from Vladislav Kolyachonok bounced off of Blomqvist and right to Xavier Parent who fired the rebound right to the back of the net to make it 2-0.
The Penguins made the decision to pull Blomqvist with a little over four minutes left in regulation to try and give the offense a boost, however they only got two shots off before the Comets grabbed the puck and skated the other way, before Lenni Hämeenaho fired it into the empty net.
Already leading 3-0 with under four minutes left, Utica found themselves in another great offensive chance after a turnover from the Penguins generated a two on one breakaway with Jack Malone and Justin Pearson. Malone passed the puck to Pearson who shot it at Blomqvist, who let the rebound get away from him once again, allowing for Malone to get the put back shot to mark the final tally at 4-0.
“We made two mistakes in the neutral zone and they both ended up in the back of the net, it’s a great lesson, the margins are tight even at this level,” coach MacDonald said after the loss. “It’s hard to score four or five goals every game, which we tried on a heater, we got humbled a bit tonight by a really good hockey team.”
Utica is now 9-2-0 after the victory, they currently are seconds in the North Division, their next game comes on Wednesday, November 11th at home against the Belleville Senators. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton following the loss sits at 7-5-1, fourth in the Atlantic Division, they’ll be back in action on Friday, November 13th on the road against the Hershey Bears.
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