UTICA, N.Y. – The Utica Comets scored in every period Friday night, including two goals in the second period, to defeat the St. John’s IceCaps 4-1 at the Utica Memorial Auditorium.
Carter Bancks (1-1-2), and Brandon Prust (0-2-2) had multi-point nights for the Comets, while Chris Higgins (1-0-1), Mike Zalewski (1-0-1) each tallied a goal in the Utica win. Richard Bachman made 28 saves in net for the Comets for his 11th win of the season.
The Comets got on the board 2:32 into the first to take a 1-0 lead. Landry started the play with a shot on net that St. John’s goaltender, Zachary Fucale, could not find the handle on. Zalewski swooped in and whacked the puck into the net to finish it off for his 13th goal of the season.
Utica extended their lead to 2-0, 4:22 into the second on Hamilton’s seventh goal of the season. Prust sent the puck into the crease from behind the net, and Hamilton squeezed a one timer past an IceCaps defender and Fucale for the goal.
The Comets would score again with 4:19 left in the second to make it 3-0. Shields skated down the right side of the ice with the puck and sent a perfect centering pass to Bancks as he barreled down the middle of the ice. Bancks sniped a shot over the glove of Fucale.
The IceCaps got one back with 3:17 left in regulation. Bud Holloway scored from the right slot, on a pass from Nikita Scherbak.
After the IceCaps pulled Fucale from net with just over two minutes remaining, Higgins capped off the scoring, sending the puck down the ice for an empty net goal, giving the Comets a 4-1 win.
Both side finished with 29 shots on goal. Zachary Fucale made 25 saves for St. John’s.
The Comets improve to 26-18-5-3 on the season, while the IceCaps fall to 23-23-7-3.
After a week-long break heading into tonight’s game, the Comets jump right into it with a three-in-three weekend. After tonight’s game the boys in blue hit the road for a game in Lehigh Valley tomorrow night. Puck drop is scheduled for 7pm.
