A 5-2 loss to the Toronto Marlies on Sunday evening at the Ricoh Coliseum sent the Utica Comets to a winless opening weekend to kick off the 2016-17 season. The Comets have now lost their first two games of the season in three of the franchises four years.
Jordan Subban (2-0-2) scored both the Comets goals and has now captured a point (2-2-4) in all four of his team’s goals this season. Michael Chaput (0-2-2) chipped in two assists, and collected three points in his first two games in a Comets sweater. Rookie goaltender Thatcher Demko made his professional hockey debut with a 28-save performance against the defending North Division champions.
For the second straight game the Marlies kicked off the game’s scoring with a power-play goal in the first period. Andreas Johnsson took advantage of Demko’s delay of game penalty and redirected Byron Froese’s shot past the rookie goaltender.
Thirteen minutes later Subban and the Comets found the equalizer with a power-play goal of their own. With intense pressure being applied to the Marlies, Subban’s initial shot from the top of the circle missed wide and ricocheted behind the net. Michael Chaput corralled the puck and played pitch-and-catch with Stecher at the point. Stecher drew a defender to him and slid the puck to Subban who one-timed a blast into the back of the net for his first tally of the season.
The Marlies claimed the lead for good due to an unfortunate bounce for the Comets. After Kasperi Kapanen cut to the net from the bottom of the faceoff circle, Comets defenseman John Negrin poke-checked the puck off of his stick. However, off the poke-check, the puck slipped through Demko’s legs to give the Marlies a 2-1 advantage.
Nine minutes later the lead was extended to 3-1 with an even strength goal just as a David Shields penalty for interference expired. Unmarked on the far post, Dmytro Timashov tapped in a cross-slot pass from Kapanen for his first goal of the season.
Two more Marlies goals to begin the third period stretched their lead to 5-1 before Subban struck again. On the power play, Subban let loose a slap shot that found its way through traffic and through Bibeau’s legs from the top of slot for his second goal of the game.
The Comets power play unit converted on two of their six opportunities, while the penalty killing unit was successful on seven of their nine attempts. The Comets were outshot 33-21 in the loss.
The Comets are off until Friday evening when they hit the road for the first Galaxy Cup match-up of the season. Puck drop from the War Memorial at the OnCenter in Syracuse is scheduled for 7 p.m.
