ST. JOHN’S, NL. – The Utica Comets ralled from down 3-1 before ultimately losing 6-3 to the St. John’s IceCaps Wednesday evening at the Mile One Centre. The Comets have collected three of a possible six points during the first three games of their four-game road trip, and the club’s record now sits at 2-6-1-0.
Joseph LaBate (1-1-2), Michael Chaput (1-2-3), and Alexandre Grenier (1-2-3) collected multi-point games for the Comets. Chaput’s three-point night vaulted him to second in the American Hockey League in points (12), just one point shy of the league lead, and tied him with Brandon Leipsic for the league lead in assists (10). Richard Bachman picked up the loss with a 18-save performance.
Charles Hudon, the IceCaps leading scorer, wasted little time giving his team the lead. Just 2:11 into the game, he received a two-line pass from Philip Samuelsson, split the Comets defensemen and wristed a shot past Bachman’s blocker for his sixth goal of the season.
The Comets tied the game up 11 minutes later when LaBate put the finishing touches on a perfect tic-tac-toe play. From the half wall, Carter Bancks started the scoring play when he cycled the puck to Alexandre Grenier below the goal line. Grenier quickly one-touched a pass behind the net to Michael Chaput, who one-timed a pass to LaBate in the slot. LaBate redirected the pass between Lindgren’s legs for his first goal of the season.
The 1-1 tie was short-lived as Nikita Scherbak scored for the third time in the two-game series to re-establish the IceCaps one goal lead just 1:09 later.
The goal-scoring duo of Hudon and Scherbak teamed up on the IceCaps third goal of the game 4:35 into the second. Hudon scored his second of the night after Scherbak won a length of the ice race to the puck and found Hudon in the slot unmarked.
The Comets eighth-ranked power play unit came through once again to bring the score to 3-2 when Grenier one-timed Jordan Subban’s pass past Lindgren’s glove. The Comets have scored a power-play goal in seven of the nine games they have played so far this season.
Six minutes later the Comets served up a dish of déjà vu. For the second consecutive night, the Comets erased a 3-1 deficit to the IceCaps. Chaput and Grenier both picked up their third points of the evening when Chaput rifled a wrist shot past Lindgren after Grenier connected with him on a cross-slot pass.
The IceCaps grabbed the lead for good, and then extended it, with a pair of goals from Bobby Farnham and Daniel Carr just 1:08 apart to start the third period. Farnham tapped in a rebound 3:48 into the third, before Carr scored on an odd-man rush at the 4:56 mark.
An empty-net goal with eight seconds left for the IceCaps wrapped up the game’s scoring.
The Comets power play unit converted on two of their six man-up advantages, while the penalty killing unit was a perfect 1-for-1.
After a travel day that brings the Comets back to the States tomorrow, the Comets have a couple of days to rest before their lone game of the weekend on Saturday in Syracuse. Puck drop on the second game of the Galaxy Cup series is scheduled for 7 p.m. from the OnCenter War Memorial.
