Farmies fans, I’m back to round out this triple header in style! I can’t believe I survived without carpal tunnel or crippling arthritis! HIGH FIVE!

 

Rounding out this triple header see’s our boys in white (or blue, or green, or possible in black and purple) head out on the road to face off against the Bridgeport “Sound Tigers” in a key tilt that could push them above the Toronto Marlies for third place in the North Division. The Sound Tigers are rounding out their own triple header this Sunday against the Comets, they split their first two games against the Providence Bruins, losing 2-1 on Friday, and winning 4-2 Saturday.

 

Coming into this weekend I was apprehensive at the Comets ability to pick up wins as their abysmal powerplay and penchant for taking bad penalties would most likely bite them in the ass against two of the better teams in the eastern conference. Lehigh Valley has the 2nd best powerplay % in the Atlantic Division, and Rochester has the 2nd best powerplay % amongst all AHL teams while on the road. Coming into tonight they face the league’s 21st place powerplay % so they can breathe a bit of a sigh of relief should they play undisciplined.

 

As I wrote up this pre-amble I read that Zack MacEwen has officially been called up by the Canucks, hell effing yah….after back to back impressive games I can’t say I’m surprised…congrats to the big man for his improvement and the strides he’s taken as an undrafted prospect who barely played in Junior to make it to the NHL.

https://www.nhl.com/canucks/news/canucks-recall-macewen/c-304697014

 

Now I have to cover a Comets game that has no MacEwen OR Lukas Jasek who apparently picked up an injury in yesterday’s game. Oh well I couldn’t be happier for MacEwen the guy has absolutely earned it. So with that all said and done let’s get into this afternoon showdown and the starting lineup!

 

Starting Lineup

 

LW	C	RW
Arseneau	Hamilton	Gadjovich
Pyatt	Boucher	Kero
Gaunce	Gaudette	Lind
Dahlen	Woods	Darcy

LD	RD
Leblanc	Sifers
Sautner	Schenn
McEneny	Chatfield

G
Ivan Kulbakov

 

With MacEwen called out we’re gonna see some crazy line shakeups and it shows, the starting line for the opening faceoff was Gadjovich/Hamilton and Arseneau haha.

 

TRANSACTIONS

 

As stated above, Zack MacEwen gets the call-up to the Canucks, he joins Guillaume Brisebois with the big club.

 

Benched
Saucerman
3

 

RE: INJURY REPORT

 

Injury Report	—	—	—	—	—
Bachman	Bancks	Blujus	Graham	Jasek	Juolevi
Out for the Season	UBI	hand	upper body injury	UDI	Out for the season

 

Streamable Clarity Improvement Notice

 

Continuing with last issues theme, going to be Players full name (jersey number) – place in streamable (if not outright obvious) then every sub sequential play featuring that player it’ll be last name(jersey number) – place in streamable (if not outright obvious) I’m also going to reduce the amount of hyperlink in the GOAL streamables, since that’s what I think MOST people are here for and don’t want some gaudy blue taking up the screen.

 

1st period

 

Comets in White

 

• The Sound Tigers camera feels like its 9000 feet away from the play. You can almost see the entire lower bowl seats immediately below the rink. I’ll take it though; I hate when teams think they’re pro filmographers and zoom in the entire game while struggling to track the puck
• Both teams look pretty tired to start this game. End to end play but not a whole lot of speed
• GOAL – BRIDGEPORT – 1-0 Sound Tigers: wellp, pretty weak goal as Tom Pyatt(#20) holds Travis St. Denis along the boards but doesn’t follow him as he rotates to the open slot where he picks up a pass from Chris Bourque to open the scoring
• that has to be the worst non-goal horn I’ve ever heard…
• Evan McEneny( #2) fans on a hard pass off the boards from Kole Lind(#13) and that springs Josh Ho-Sang for a breakaway but he misses the net
• Vincent Arseneau(#18) almost springs he and Jonah Gadjovich(#22) on a 2-on-1 breakaway after he blocks a shot, absolutely son’s a Tigers defender at the blue line, then plays the puck off his skate for the breakaway but loses his stick in the process
• lot to digest from this shift from the young guns; Lind(#13) with a slick pass to Brendan Gaunce(#16) but he gets tangled up and cant get a shot off
• Jaime Sifers(#26) with two bombs from the blue line off setups from Stefan Leblanc(#3), the second see’s Adam Gaudette(#17) attempt a tip and Gaunce(#16) follows for the rebound
• closing out the shift, Gaudette(# 17) absolutely dances around several Sound Tiger players to lead the zone entry then gives it to Gaunce(# 16) who goes rinkwide to Luke Schenn(#2 3) for the clapper on Tigers goalie Chris Gibson
• The Comets manage to draw a slashing penalty on the above shift as well, putting the Comets on their first powerplay of the night
• GOAL – UTICA – 1-1 Tie: Comets even things out when McEneny(#2) sets up Reid Boucher(#24) on the right wing and he walks in uncontested down the right circle to set up Tanner Kero(#10) for the tap-in goal
• Kulbakov with a nice glove save on Steve Bernier
• Kulbakov with a huge diving save on a shot from Josh Ho-Sang
• Gadjovich(#22) with some solid hustle to catch a rink wide feed to set up Wacey Hamilton(#36) for the zone entry
• GOAL – BRIDEGPORT – 2-1 Sound Tigers: Bizarre play here as Ashton Sautner(#6) steps up to hold the blue line with a poke check but Chris Bourque goes rink wide to Travis St. Denis who in turn sets up Otto Koivula who easily springs past Jonathan Dahlen(#54) for a shot that goes past Kulbakov
• Strange series of events, Vincent Arseneau(#18) hits Kiefer Bellows high, and then Bellows chases him down andgives him a whack on the leg that sends him to the ice which Arseneau takes exception to and the fisticuffs fly
• somehow after all of that, Arseneau picks up a Diving/Embellishment minor as well as a fighting major, but they still stiff Bellows with a slashing minor and fighting major…so how can it be diving if the minor that cause the fall was still dished out?
• Sautner(#6) picks up a pretty soft tripping minor and the Comets go to the penalty kill for the rest of the period
• Comets manage to surpress any powerplay chances for the remainder of the period

 

Score at the end of the first period: 2-1 Sound Tigers

 

Bizarre first period, everyone looking tired and lethargic, lot of zone entries but nothing substantial coming from them; Comets outshot 13 to 7 in the first period. They start the 2nd on a brief penalty kill, but will be back to full strength relatively quick.

 

2nd Period

 

• No audio to start the 2nd
• Seth Helgeson picks up a tripping penalty just as the audio returns, and the Comets are off to their 2nd powerplay of the night
• 1st unit powerplay: Dahlen, Lind, Schenn, Pyatt and fucking Jonah Gadjovich…doesn’t play him whatsoever in the past like 2 weeks because he’s learning the game, but when he FINALLY gets playing time, he’s given a spot on the first unit powerplay… the mixed messages man …
• Comets get one shot on goal from Evan McEneny but that’s it and the powerplay expires
• Gaunce(#16) with a giveaway, but then makes up for it with some aggressive forechecking that leads to a scoring chance off a Sound Tigers giveaway
• Kero(#10) takes a light hack to the hands as he reaches for a pass from Boucher(#24) and the comets are heading to their 3rd powerplay
• 1st unit this time: Boucher, McEneny, Gaunce, Kero, Gaudette
• 2nd unit: Schenn, Lind, Gadjovich, Dahlen, Pyatt
• GOAL – UTICA – 2-2 Tie: Comets on the powerplay, Schenn(#23) sets up Dahlen(#54 )for a one timer but Dahlen hands it back and Schenn(#23) wires one through traffic to tie the game at 2! Nice screen from Gadjovich at the front of the net throughout this shift
• Gaunce(#16) stops a clearing attempt and then sets up Gaudette(#17) as he hits the breaks in traffic for a shot on goal that gets stopped by Chris Gibson
• GOAL – BRIDGEPORT – 3-2 Sound Tigers: Sound Tigers regain the lead after Sifes(#26) knocks away Kulbakov’s stick, a shot from Sebastian Aho goes off the body of Steve Bernier and above Kulbakov’s glove side. Shot was going well wide of the play but takes a crazy lucky redirect
• Arseneau(#18) with a gift as a Sound Tiger passes straight to his stick in the Tiger’s zone and he gets a point blank shot that gets stopped by Gibson
• Gadjovich(#22) springs Lind(#13) for a breakaway along the right wing, but his shot gets deflected wide by Gibson’s right pad
• Some nice tic-tac-toe action from Lind(#13) Gaunce(#16) and Gaudette(#17) for some more chances in the Tigers end

 

The Score at the end of the 2nd period: 3-2 Comets

 

A bit of a defensive lapse gives the Sound Tigers the lead, which is unfortunate because it truly was pure offensive dominance from the Comets that period…total opposite of the first period as they outshoot the Sound Tigers 14 to 5. Comets powerplay having some success again which is great to see as they go 1 for 2 in the 2nd period, and 2 for 3 on the day. Normally after one of these ultra-possession heavy periods the Comets spectacularly collapse in the third and just get dominated…hoping for the opposite and maybe we get a third consecutive game of 5 unanswered goals.

Liking the Arseneau/Gadjovich line as well as the Gaudette/Lind/Gaunce line, super dominant from them, Kero/Pyatt and Boucher continue to look good, but in a much simpler way. Lind/Gaudette and Gaunce are just dancing around the Tigers but are struggling to finish on their chances…hopefully they connect because they’ve been impressive during this triple header weekend

 

3rd Period

 

• a dominant shift of control from the Gaunce/Gaudsplan/Lind line early
• a near brutal giveaway scoring chance from Jalen Chatfield(#5) definitely didn’t hit a stick, just banked it terribly off the wall
• GOAL – UTICA – 3-3 Tie: ok its official, the team reads the Farmies, cause here is Dahlen(#54) picking up a Brendan Woods(#21) centering shot on goal from the corner and roofs it above Chris Gibson to tie the game at 3! That’s Dahlen’s third 5v5 point on a line with Woods, so yeah they’re definitely talking about shutting me up haha…slot the Farmies in as the helper assist point on that one boys
• That’s’ Dahlen’s 14th goal of the season, and his 3rd in his last 4 games
• Vincnet Arseneau picks up a tripping penalty on a very late finished check and the Comets are back on the penalty kill
• GOAL – UTICA – 4-3 Comets: Gaunce(#16) scores his 15th, a shorthanded one off a Schenn(#2 3) clearing attempt down the ice, as he gets the takeaway along the boards and goes backhand to give the Comets their first lead of the game!
• That’s Gaunce’s 3rd shorthanded tally this season, he is responsible for 50% of the Comets total shorthanded tallies – that’s also two goals 28 seconds apart
• Sound Tigers find themselves on a breakaway and the Comets leave Steve Bernier wide open on their left side but Kulbakov is their to glove down the shot
• GOAL – BRIDGEPORT – 4-4 Tie: once again another brutal redirect in front of a screen Kulbakov ties the game at 4. Appears Ben Holmstrom managed to get the last tip in on a Chris Casto shot from the blue line. And we’re back to this being anyones game
• Comets struggling to get out of their own zone, like 4 or 5 straight defensive zone starts in a row
• [lmao Kulbakov draws the goaltender interference again] https://streamable.com/sirpe), this one not subtle whatsoever, I’m not sure how he doesn’t get called for interference its so obvious LOL
• BIG YIKES, Gaudette(#17) with a brutal giveaway to Ryan Bourque who gets a breakaway, but Kulbakov makes the clutch save…shit that could’ve been BAD on Gaudette
• Comets get nothing going on the powerplay,

 

The Score at the end of the 3rd period: 4-4 Tie

 

Well that was an interesting period! The Comets gain the lead off a shorthanded goal then lose it minutes later off another brutal tip-in; shots favored Utica only slightly that period 11 to 10. So we head to overtime to conclude this one.

OVERTIME

 

• Never mind, whoever the idiot is at AHL.tv cancelled the game feed so no video of overtime…good stuff.
• Feed resumes with 3:13 left in Overtime
• GOAL – BRIDGEPORT – 5-4 Sound Tigers: Brutal stuff here in OT, Schenn(#23) fans on a pass to Boucher(#24) who then has a lazy pass onto the stick of the Tigers’ Matt Lorito, who races in on a 2 on 1 against Kulbakov and calmly glides it over to Tanner Fritz to complete the comeback after giving up the lead early in the 3rd.

 

Final Score: 5-4 Bridgeport Sound Tigers

 

Scoresheet

 

Period	Team	Goalscorer	Primary assist	helper	type
1st	Bridgeport	Travis St. Denis	Chris Bourque	Otto Koivula	5v5
1st	Utica	Tanner Kero	Reid Boucher	Evan McEneny	PPG
1st	Bridgeport	Otto Koivula	Travis St. Denis	Chris Bourque	5v5
2nd	Utica	Luke Schenn	Johnathan Dahlen	Jonah Gadjovich	PPG
2nd	Birdgeport	Steve Bernier	Sebastian Aho	Ryan Bourque	5v5
3rd	Utica	Jonathan Dahlen	Brendan Gaunce	Cam Darcy	5v5
3rd	Utica	Brendan Gaunce	Tom Pyatt	—	SHG
3rd	Bridgeport	Ben Holmstrom	Chris Casto	Parker Wotherspoon	5v5
OT	Bridgeport	Tanner Fritz	Matt Lorito	—	3v3

 

Takeaways

• Some brutal defensive gaffes and bad passing cost the team the win today… after getting that shorthanded goal they let momentum build for the Sound Tigers and sure enough they capitalize to win it in OT. The Comets still pick up a point and pending the Marlies win, secure their 4th place in the North Division, but you can’t help but feel like they should’ve come away with two points.
• Kulbakov was not done any favors tonight by the team in front of him, chalk it up to exhaustion but they just had so many bad giveaways and passes that resulted in chances for the Sound Tigers. 5 goals on 32 shots doesn’t sound great, but it’s a lot better when you realize that more than half of those were serious, high danger scoring opportunities.
• Brendan Gaunce once again with a really solid game alongside Kole Lind and Adam Gaudette…the latter two still have yet to find the scoreboard in the past couple games but its hard todeny their chemistry or talent when out there together. Again I have to chalk it up to exhaustion which prevented them from generating more shots on goal. The line collectively had 7 registered shots on goal, with Gaunce accounting for 4 of them.
• I can’t help but think that Stefan LeBlanc might actually be not that great of a defensemen and that our PTO Colton Saucerman is better suited out there…maybe it’s the new team thing, still finding his footing, but after 3 games with the Comets, I can’t say I’ve seen him be that great in his own zone, or fast enough in the offensive zone (besides a couple opportunities today), Saucerman has previous experience playing with Gaudette, and the two have scored points when playing together while with the Comets, plus there’s the hustle thing, Saucerman has a very workman/Biega like work ethic on the ice, where he may not be the most skilled but is efficient in his own end while providing stable enough passes to his forwards ahead of him. It’s still very early, but I think I’d like to see the Sauce at least one or two more times before his PTO contract expires. Couldn’t hurt giving him a final look given Blujus and Graham are possibly out for long term.
• Given how hard theFriday and Saturday comeback victories were for our Farm squad, missing Zack MacEwen, Lukas Jasek and rotating in a line of guys who haven’t played for over a week, I can still call this game a pretty decent success. 5 points out of 6 in a triple header is quite a feat, especially considering they were facing off against 3 top 4 teams of their respective divisions in a row!

 

Comets Three Stars

1. Jonathan Dahlen
2. Brendan Gaunce
3. Ivan Kulbakov

 

What’s Next?

 

The Comets return this Wednesday where they take on the North Division’s last place team, the Laval Rocket. The Rocket have struggled hard lately, going 3-5-1-1 in their last 10, and currently are riding a 6 game losing streak. They have the 2nd worst penalty killing % in the North Division and the 3rd worst powerplay % to boot. So things aren’t looking to hot for the Burrows coached team as of late, and with the Comets having picked up 5 out of a possible 6 points with a team running on fumes, it should be another tough one for the former Canuck forwards squad to try and eke out a victory on the road with their division worst away record.

 

Until Wednesday, I Hope you guys enjoyed this edition of the Farmies, and as always any feedback, improvement suggestions, content or highlights you’d like me to focus/pick out during games, let me know and I’ll do my best to provide during the next Farmies!