The Comets blistering undefeated October seems like decades ago. After a pristine 8-0 start, the Comets have had a dismal November record of 2-6-1-0.

 

Despite four goals in their last outing, the messy defensive play of the Comets came back to bite them, as they lost a heartbreaker at home. The loss was the team’s sixth loss at home. Given the Adirondack Bank Center’s already teeny-tiny capacity, this is something the Farm is going to have to curb if they want to keep butts in the seats. Otherwise, that talk of moving the team to Abbotsford is going to be a primary talking point this summer.

 

Tonight, the Comets face off against the Alex Burrows (assistant) coached, Laval Rocket. The Rocket are on the heater of all heaters. After a weak, 3-5-1 start to their season, the Rocket rallied to pick up 16 points out of a possible 20, over their last ten games.

 

A lot of that credit is due to the incredible goaltending from rookie, Cayden Primeau. Primeau currently leads the AHL in goaltending stats with a 1.87 goals-against-average and a 0.934 save percentage.

 

The Comets will need to be on their games tonight if they want to crack the impeccable defense of Primeau. Wednesday’s game against the Rocket proved that getting plenty of even-strength goals isn’t enough to get the job done.

 

With several of the Comets French contingent playing in front of their “home” crowd tonight, perhaps, the Comets will find that extra gear tonight.

 

Writers note: I’m writing and covering as much as I can before I head out to catch up with friends. Depending on my intoxication levels, I might try to finish my recap when I get back home. Otherwise, you’ll likely notice me fluctuating from saying “tonight” and “Friday night” as I lose track of my tenses.

 

With that in mind, let’s take a look at the starting lineup!

 

THE STARTING LINEUP

 

LW	C	RW
Goldobin (#77)	Hamilton (#36)	Boucher (#24)
Bailey (#95)	Camper (#19)	Lind (#13)
Arseneau (#18)	Perron (#27)	Bancks (#34)
Gadjovich (#21)	Jasek (#9)	Stevenson (#26)

LD	RD
Brisebois (#55)	Chatfield (#5)
Sautner (#6)	Rafferty (#25)
Teves (#4)	Blujus (#8)

G
Zane McIntyre

 

Fortunately, Cull broke up that Sautner/Chatfield pairing, which was just abhorrent against the Devils on Wednesday. It looks like Jasek got demoted to centering a returning Jonah Gadjovich and Dyson Stevenson. That’s certainly one way to inspire your struggling center to produce.

I’m still convinced Jasek has upside as a winger, but his crucial development years are getting wasted as the Canucks organization flounders at providing the necessary center depth to this club. Gadjovich returns after missing the last 14 games due to an “upper-body strain.” Gadjovich looked impressive in his first few games with the Comets, so hopefully the time off hasn’t caused him to lose a step.

I like that Trent Cull is going with the Arseneau/Perron/Bancks line. Those three were easily the Comets best forwards against Binghamton. Maybe playing in front of their fellow Frenchmen, Perron and Arseneau will be inspired to score a bunch for friends and family who made the trek out to Laval.

 

RE: INJURY REPORT

 

Injury Report	—
Seamus Malone (arm)	Olli Juolevi (not the knee)

 

Healthy Scratches	—	—	—	—
Richard Bachman	Stefan LeBlanc	Tanner Sorenson	Mitch Eliot	Justin Taylor

 

1st period

 

Comets in Blue

 

• Every Quebecer out to start, Perron/Arseneau/Bancks alongside Chatfield/Brisebois, haha
• Laval dumps the puck into the Comets end, and the starters struggle to get the puck out of the zone
• Ashton Sautner (#6) sends a pass through center to Kole Lind (#13). Lind slices through the neutral zone with his head down and gets dropped by the Rocket’s Antoine Waked. The loose puck gets picked up the Rocket, who enter the zone for a shot on McIntyre.
• Jonah Gadjovich (#21) looks to have not missed a step, as he goes end-to-end to chase a dump-in, showing off some fantastic skating. Gadjovich’s forecheck leads to him stealing the puck and setting up a crashing Dyson Stevenson (#26) for a shot-attempt
• Continued from above: Gadjovich (#21) picks up the puck from behind the Rocket net and gets a nice little between-the-legs feed to Dyson Stevenson (#26). Stevenson attempts a cross-ice feed to Jalen Chatfield (#5), but his pass goes into the skates of a Rocket defender
• After Laval enters the Comets zone, Vinny Arseneau (#18) and Lukas Jasek (#9) pinch on a loose puck at the blue line, only for both to overskate it. The Rocket pounce for a three-on-two situation with one Rocket player behind the defense. Fortunately, Brogan Rafferty (#2 5)blocks a backdoor feed with his skate to prevent a sure-goal for Laval.
• Comets are looking very sluggish in their end. No hop in their step to pounce on loose pucks – Rocket beating the Comets to the puck after every turnover/giveaway of theirs.
• First whistle in the entire game comes 5:19 into the first period.
• Justin Bailey (#95) races end-to-end into the Rockets zone. Bailey drops off for Dylan Blujus (#8) after gaining the zone, and Blujus rifles a shot into the glove of Primeau
• Carter Camper (#19) wins an offensive-zone draw back to Dylan Blujus (#8). Blujus sends a shot through traffic into the pads of Cayden Primeau, where a crashing Justin Bailey (#95) tries to grab the rebound. Bailey’s drive forces the Rocket’s Maxim Lamarche to take a hooking penalty
• Comets off to the powerplay
• 1st peeper unit: Lind, Bailey, Boucher, Goldobin, Rafferty
• Interestingly enough, but Kole Lind is the one who always takes the opening faceoff draw for the powerplay units. He’s quite good at them for a guy his size in these high-pressure situations
• Comets struggling to find a shooting lane until Reid Boucher (#24) sends a backhander to Kole Lind (#13) in the circle. Lind’s one-timer blast goes off the right shoulder of Primeau
• Laval clears off Lind’s chance and the 2nd peeper unit comes out: Brisebois, Gadjovich, Camper, Perron, Jasek
• GOAL – UTICA – 1-0 Comets: Comets second unit capitalizes with less than twenty seconds remaining on the powerplay. Guillaume Brisebois (#55) plays the puck to the right wall for Carter Camper (#19). Camper wrists a shot to the slot, where a crashing Francis Perron (#27) tips the shot into Cayden Primeau’s left pad. Primeau doesn’t control the rebound, however, as Perron gets an easy second try to go top corner.
• Rocket pressuring off the following faceoff draw
• Laval get themselves a two-on-one after Dylan Blujus (#8) makes a failed pinch at the Comets blueline. Joe Cox sends a cross-ice feed to a crashing Lukas Vejdemo, but Dyson Stevenson (#26) breaks up the feed just in the nick of time
• The Rocket’s Noah Juulsen casually wheeling around the Comets end-boards for a shot in-tight on McIntyre. Not a powerplay, by the way. Comets forward trio of Jasek, Perron, and Gadjovich guilty of puck-watching on this one
• Justin Bailey leads a rush to the Rocket’s end but he takes it behind the net of Primeau and nothing comes from it
• Laval’s Josh Brook leads a quick zone-entry for the Rocket, Dylan Blujus (#8) takes a hooking penalty as he tries to box-out his man from receiving a centering feed
• Comets penalty-killers clear several times in a row, negating any shot-attempts from the Rocket
• Reid Boucher (# 24)steals a drop-pass worth of the Canucks, for a shorthanded shot on goal of his own
• Comets kill the PK
• Nikolay Goldobin (#77) with a fancy move after entering the Rockets zone to then saucer a pass to Josh Teves (#4). Teves shot is weak into the body of Primeau
• GOAL – LAVAL – 1-1 Tie: The Comets passing blunders continue, as Guillaume Brisebois (#55) elects to play give-and-go with Reid Boucher (#24) in the Rockets’ end. Brisebois’ weak return feed to Boucher gets picked off by the Rocket’s Josh Brook. Brook escapes a stumbling Boucher to race towards McIntyre. Despite Jalen Chatfield’s (#5) best efforts to get back and defend the two-on-one rush, Brook’s shot is a quick one through McIntyre’s five-hole.
• Arseneau lays a hit on Michael McCarron along the boards, then he gets cross-checked from behind seconds later at center-ice
• oh man, Utica baby, what is you doing? Perron, Brisebois, and Jasek all pinching towards the blue line, while the Rocket dump the puck-in for an easy scoring chance. Fortunately, Arseneau (#18) is around the net to get a stick-lift on Ryan Poehling to prevent another embarrassing goal-against.
• like…look at this? How does this happen on such a frequent basis?

 

The Score at the end of the 1st period: 1-1 Tie

 

Comets amazingly end the period with a lead in shots-on-goal, but boy their chances weren’t very impressive. Comets look like they’re trying to land shots square into the chest of Primeau or something. Uninspiring hockey is how I would describe the opening twenty minutes. Not a whole lot is happening. Both teams are playing very boring hockey outside of the odd-man-rushes that the Rocket have been getting for themselves. Surely, the coaching staff recognizes the number of odd-man-rushes this team gives up on a nightly basis. Passing game weak, son!

 

2nd Period

 

• 18 seconds into the second and the Justin Bailey takes a holding penalty to put the Comets on their second straight PK

THIS IS WHERE I STOPPED WATCHING LAST NIGHT – I am so…so hungover. I am sorry if sentence structure and grammar goes out the window.

• Comets get a couple key blocks on the PK, one which appears to go off the head of Chatfield
• Comets PK putting in work, with Reid Boucher (#24) getting himself another steal off a Rocket drop-pass. His PK group pressures aggressively in the Rocket’ zone before time expires on the Bailey penalty
• Dyson Stevenson (#26) gains the zone for the Comets fourth-line, then drops off for a Jonah Gadjovich (#21) blast from the blue line. Gadjovich follows up by crashing the net for a redirect on a Carter Bancks (#34) shot attempt, but he can’t quite get the angle right
• GOAL – LAVAL – 2-1 Rocket: Laval breaks the tie with their seventh shot of the game. After Lukas Jasek (#9) loses a defensive faceoff, the Rocket quickly pinball the puck around the blue line, drawing in several Comets players. Riley Barber capitalizes on all the open space on the right-wing off a pass from Gustav Olofsson. Barber wrists a shot on McIntyre that goes off the inside leg of Michael McCarron and through McIntyre’s five-hole. Truly no clue what Chatfield is doing “helping” Jasek tie-up his check. Even though it was a weak AF goal from McIntyre, Chatfield ought to have been checking McCarron instead of doing whatever it was he was doing.
• Surprise to see how delayed McIntyre’s reaction was to move right-to-left on that play. Left tonnes of gaps in his coverage as he scrambled to read the play
• Nikolay Goldobin (#77) with a one-timer blast from the high-slot
• Francis Perron (#27) with a crafty tip-in attempt off a Guillaume Brisebois (#55) shot on goal
• Laval’s Kevin Lynch takes a tripping penalty and the Comets are off to their second powerplay
• Comets lose the draw but regain with a pass to Brogan Rafferty (#25) on the blueline, but he outright misses the pass, forcing the Comets to reset
• 1st powerplay group gets nothing going, and after a stoppage in play, the second-unit gets rolled out: Gadjovich, Perron, Camper, Jasek, Brisebois
• Nikita Jevpalovs steals a Carter Camper (#19) cross-ice pass, giving the Rocket a shorthanded odd-man-rush. Jevpalovs, fortunately, tries a deep toe-drag only to lose control of the puck
• Solid shift from Gadjovich as the powerplay comes to a close. Gadjovich (#21) starts off with some puck-control along the end-boards before cutting to the net for a centering feed from Francis Perron (#27). Gadjovich’s shot gets blocked by a Rocket defender, but he continues with his solid shift by racing to the right-wing to stop a Rocket clearing attempt
• Jalen Chatfield (#5) gets a bit aggressive with his hold as he tries to box-out Riley Barber
• Comets third PK will be without one of their primary penalty-killers
• Chaos on the PK, as Riley Barber centers the puck into the high-slot for Canucks Legend Dale Weise. Wacey Hamilton (#36) collapses on Weise to break-up the play allowing Dylan Blujus (#8) to kick the puck out of range, but he kicks it right onto the stick of Matthew Peca. Peca rips a shot in-tight, and it looks like his stick clips Carter Bancks (#34) in the face after his shot release. Bancks guts out the rest of his shift in pain as the Comets PK gets stuck on the ice
• Comets first PK group get another crucial block that allows them to get off the ice finally
• Lukas Jasek (#9) with a fantastic effort on the penalty-kill as he steals a weak Rocket pass for a shot wide of the net of Primeau. Jasek then shows off his speed with an excellent backcheck into the Comets zone to clear the zone
• Comets kill the remainder of the penalty and are three-for-three on the night
• Kole Lind (#13) with some good wheels to forecheck hard and force a turnover
• Lind’s hustle finally pays off as he and Bailey (#95) play give-and-go along the left wall to set up Ashton Sautner (#6) on the blue line for a blast on goal
• Goldobin (#77) chases down his man inside the Rocket’s zone, his active stick to block the clearing attempt allows Francis Perron (#27) to keep the puck in with a dump-in to right-half-wall
• Off the previous dump-in from Perron, Vinny Arseneau (#18) recovers the dump-in and gets a perfect backhand pass to Nikolay Goldobin (#77) on the doorstep. Goldobin is tied up and can’t get a shot off, and a crashing Jalen Chatfield (#5) forces Primeau into heroics, as he dives hard on the loose puck to prevent a Comets scoring chance
• Rocket pressuring hard with three minutes left in the period
• Dylan Blujus (#8 ) shoves his check out of the crease of McIntyre’s net, but in doing so, he staggers Josh Teves (#4) who was following his man, Lukas Vejdemo. The extra space away from Teves allows Vejdemo to get off a dangerous wraparound attempt
• Another defensive blunder from the Comets that allows a huge scoring chance for Laval. Opportunity for Laval comes after Lukas Jasek (#9) attempts a pass at center-ice to Goldobin (#77) on the Rocket blue line, only to see his pass goes off a Rocket skate. Dylan Blujus (#8) attempts pinches aggressively at center-ice for some reason, and the Rocket gets themselves a two-on-one opportunity. Zane McIntyre comes up huge with the save on a Ryan Poehling redirect.
• GOAL – LAVAL – 3-1 Rocket: Sigh, Comets defense once again blow it. This time Nikita Jevpalovs sends a pass rink-wide to Riley Barber on the right-wing. Brisebois (#55) attempts to disrupt the pass, but he only gets a piece of it with his stick. Wacey Hamilton (#36) changes from chasing Barber to staying at center, while Brisebois utilizes the “controller-disconnected” play of standing still in McIntyre’s crease. Barber crashes the net uncontested, but Brisebois gets a stick out to break-up Barbers shot. The puck deflects onto the stick of Jake Evans, who also gets off an uncontested shot, five-hole on McIntyre to put the Rocket up by three.
• Time winds down and the Comets head into the final twenty minutes down by two

 

The Score at the end of the 2nd period: 3-1 Rocket

 

Comets dominated in the second period start to finish as numerous defensive lapses compound into three-straight goals for the Rocket. Comets are battling, but once that puck starts getting played in the Comets side of the neutral zone, it is nothing but repeated positioning lapses that give way to odd-man rushes for the Rocket. Outshot ten to six over twenty minutes, with the majority of those shots being high-danger opportunities for Laval. Comets need to show some fire and start battling to set up in the Rocket’s zone.

 

3rd period

 

• Off an offensive zone draw, Guillaume Brisebois chops the stick out of the hands of Matthew Peca right in front of the ref.
• For the second period straight, the Comets take a dumb penalty less than twenty seconds into the period
• 1st pk group: Bancks, Hamilton, Sautner, Blujus
• Chaos in the crease, after Ashton Sautner (#6) drops down to block a shot, but the puck rolls along his body and the stick, off the skate of Matthew Peca to Michael McCarron who has a point-blank chance on McIntyre. Mcintyre makes the initial stop, but the loose puck causes chaos in the crease as everyone dogpiles until the whistle gets blown
• Alternate angle showing just how crazy it is that the puck didn’t cross the line. Dylan Blujus (#8) starts the streamable being a good-boy to Matthew Peca, who got a bloody nose from colliding face-first into the mask of Zane McIntyre.
• GOAL – LAVAL – 4-1 Rocket: Seconds after Brisebois leaves the penalty box, Otto Leskinen wires a shot from the blue line that goes five-hole on McIntyre. Weak goal to give up, hard to fault anyone but McIntyre on that one
• Team looking quite deflated as they attempt to break out of their zone
• Nikolay Goldobin (#77) with a steal in the neutral-zone that creates a zone-entry for the Comets. Reid Boucher (#24) drives towards the net, but he steers wide for a backhand pass to Wacey Hamilton (#36). Hamilton misses the puck as it sits flat on the doorstep of Primeau’s crease, but a crashing Goldobin (#77) picks it up only to whiff on a prime scoring chance.
• Great play created by Goldobin here, and you can see the frustration at that missed opportunity as he looks up in disbelief
• Fortunately, the Comets get a powerplay as Otto Leskinen gets dinged for hooking
• 2nd peeper starts: Camper, Gadjovich, Lind, Brisebois, Perron
• GOAL – UTICA – 4-2 Rocket: Comets powerplay goes two-for-three on the night, as Carter Camper (#19) starts this one off with a blast towards the net of Primeau. Jonah Gadjovich (#21) on net-front duty gets a late tip that causes the puck to deflect out to the left circle, where Lukas Jasek (#9) pounces to go bar-down to put the Comets within two.
• Good monkey off Jasek’s back as he scored his first goal since October 19th when the Comets demolished the Rochester Americans in a 7-1 rout
• Off the ensuing draw, the Rocket pressure with some feeble shot attempts resulting in Dylan Blujus taking a delay-of-game penalty for shooting the puck over the glass as he attempted to clear McIntyre’s crease
• GOAL – LAVAL – 5-2 Rocket: Oh boy, another uncontested bomb from the right-wing on the Rocket powerplay to regain the three-goal lead. Canucks Legend, Dale Weise, providing the screen at the front of the net, as McIntyre, once again, had no clue where the shot was coming from
• [Along the left wall, Justin Bailey (#95) receives the puck from Jalen Chatfield (#5) in the Comets end. Bailey either attempts a weak backhand pass, or the puck gets knocked off his stick and back into Rocket hands as Laval finds themselves on another two-on-one breakaway
• GOAL – LAVAL – 6-2 Rocket: Ryan Poehling gets gifted a goal, as the Rocket get themselves a four-goal lead. Three Comets players get caught muscling Dale Weise and Kevin Lynch on the right-side of Zane McIntyre, completely missing the loose puck floating towards the net. McIntyre is late to react, once again, and Ryan Poehling loops behind the goal for an easy tap-in. Wacey Hamilton (#36) once again stuck with the jimmy-legs as he stutters, deciding to watch Poehlings initial pass or to follow Poehling around the net. The indecision and lack of coverage leads to one of the easiest goals-against I’ve seen the Comets give up
• Reid Boucher (#24) drops off for Brogan Rafferty (#25), who weaves around a couple Rocket players to the high-slot. He tries to hand off to Boucher (#24) for a shot on goal, but Boucher’s backhand doesn’t have enough steam on it
• Nikita Jevpalovs showing off as he spins around Jalen Chatfield (#5) on a drive towards the Comets net, and McIntyre is forced to make an impressive stretch pad save on Jake Evans
• Less than ten remaining, and Lukas Vejdemo takes a delay-of-game penalty. Vejdemo’s minor came after he used a closed fist on the puck after falling behind the net of Primeau. Seeing a charging Arseneau, Vejdemo covered the puck with his hand to gain a whistle, earning the Comets their fourth powerplay
• Comets powerplay: Carter Camper (#19) goes rink-wide to Lukas Jasek (#9), who quickly plays the puck off his skate to attempt a centering pass to Jonah Gadjovich (#21). The play gets broken up by the Rocket traffic at the front of the net, and the 2nd peeper gets forced out of the zone
• Wacey Hamilton (#36) gooning it up by taking an egregious slash to the arm of Josh Brook after he gets stripped of the puck.
• Hamilton should consider himself lucky that 1. Trent Cull likes his “leadership,” and 2. That the Canucks brass have done nothing to provide better AHL centers to take his place. Can’t stand seeing garbage penalties like this
• Justin Bailey (#95) with a clean reverse hit on the penalty kill
• Michael McCarron inexplicably takes a run at Ashton Sautner (#6) along the Comets blue line, then a scrum ensues after McCarron takes a couple chops at Sautner. McCarron takes interference and slashing minors on the play
• Comets get a brief stint of four-on-four
• GOAL – UTICA – 6-3 Rocket: Off the offensive-zone draw, Carter Camper (#19) spins with the puck to get it over to Francis Perron (#27). Perron plays the puck back to Jalen Chatfield (#5), who walks the line for a blast towards the net of Primeau. Chatfield’s bomb from the blue line gets tipped last second by Carter Camper who picks up his third point of the night
• Chatfield’s assist is his first point of the season, only Seamus Malone, Justin Taylor, and brief-Comet, Oscar Fantenberg, remain pointless in their stints with the Comets this season
• Comets pressuring late as a blast from Nikolay Goldobin (#77) goes wide of the net out to Justin Bailey (#95) who’s shot-attempt goes off the post and out
• The Canuck’s org and three-on-none’s, name a better duo?
• Jonah Gadjovich (#21) doing the Hughes shove before it was cool, as he races back with Lukas Jasek (#9) on a backcheck to prevent a Laval two-on-one scoring chance. Fortunately, after a couple sarcastic cheers earlier from the Laval faithful, Zane McIntyre comes up huge with two saves on the play
• Laval’s Noah Juulsen shoves Lukas Jasek (#9) face-first into the boards and takes a boarding minor for his crimes. Comets get a 5-on-3 powerplay to start as McCarron sits in the box still for his double-minor
• 1st Peeper Unit out first: Boucher, Lind, Rafferty, Camper, Goldobin
• digging this set-up on the 5-on-3 with two guys playing behind the goal line to open the ice up a bit more
• McCarron leaves the box and it’s a standard 5-on-4
• GOAL – UTICA – 6-4 Rocket: Twenty seconds remaining in the game, and Jonah Gadjovch puts the Comets within two off a gorgeous powerplay tally. Francis Perron notches his third point of the night as he sets up Gadjovich (#21) with a pass at the front of the net. Gadjovich gets a MacEwen-like goal as he turns in front for a wrister over the pads of Primeau
• Another late chance from Utica, this one comes after Primeau misplays the puck around the end-boards

 

Despite an incredibly late attempt at evening things out, yet another poor defensive effort from the Comets sinks them. Will have to hope they reset with a better effort for Saturday’s rematch (spoiler alert, they did).

 

Final Score: 6-4 Laval Rocket

 

Scoresheet

 

Period	Team	Goalscorer	Primary assist	helper	type
1st	Utica	Francis Perron	Carter Camper	Guillaume Brisebois	PPG
1st	Laval	Josh Brook	—	—	5v5
2nd	Laval	Michael McCarron	Riley Barber	Gusav Olofsson	5v5
2nd	Laval	Jake Evans	Riley Barber	Nikita Jevpalovs	5v5
3rd	Laval	Otto Leskinen	Jake Evans	Alex Alain	5v5
3rd	Utica	Lukas Jasek	Jonah Gadjovich	Carter Camper	ppg
3rd	Laval	Riley Barber	Matthew Peca	Michael McCarron	PPG
3rd	Laval	Ryan Poehling	Kevin Lynch	—	5v5
3rd	Utica	Carter Camper	Jalen Chatfield	Francis Perron	4v4
3rd	Utica	Jonah Gadjovich	Francis Perron	Guillaume Brisebois	PPG

 

Takeaways

 

• Jonah Gadjovich appears to have not missed a step, his hustle and compete level were present every single shift. Friday against the Rocket saw him showcasing his playmaking ability quite well through the early-goings of the game as well. His goal and assist Friday night put him at 3 points in 4 games played this season. A lot of people were talking about this being a bounce-back year for Kole Lind, but I think people are sleeping on Gadjovich pretty hard. I wrote about it tonnes last year that Gadjovich finally had things click for him in the final stretch of the season. Gadjovich’s performance against Laval is one of the lone shining stars of an otherwise dark and brutal game to watch.
• Boucher had a very quiet game, as did Goldobin too, but I think that has to do a lot with their centermen being just piss-awful. Wacey Hamilton is out of his depth as a first-line center, and his frustration boiled over in the third when he took that nonsensical slashing penalty. Were there better centers available, I think he’d slide out of the lineup for tomorrow’s match. With Travis Green making a statement to management that he’d rather 3 minutes of Tyler Graovac on the wing over Loui Eriksson, I can’t envision a scenario where the Comets get any help at center in the immediate future. Maybe Antoine Roussel comes down for a conditioning stint and plays center with Goldy and Bouch. Until then, Hamilton will have to do. It’s just unfortunate that the games of two of the Comets best forwards have to suffer most because of it.
• Lukas Jasek had an impressive game Friday, all things considered. Jasek came out with a -1 rating for +/-, but was on the ice for three of the Comets four goals, while scoring one of his own on the powerplay. He was quite sound defensively tonight despite his negative +/-. Legit nothing he could do about Chatfield having a brainfart after a faceoff and just outright ignoring his check in the crease of McIntyre. Nor, could Jasek have done anything regarding, McIntyre allowing his second of four five-hole goals.
• Speaking of which, McIntyre was pretty bad. Like, “oh, I see why Providence had no problem letting him go,” bad. For McIntyre’s second straight start, he posted a sub 0.820 save percentage, and a goals-against-average higher than 4.00. At this point, it’s hard to justify him getting the majority of starts for the Comets because his play has regressed to where it was with Providence last season. Let MDP play because the Comets aren’t getting any support from McIntyre in net. Obviously, it goes without saying that the Comet’s atrocious defensive coverage is also causing a lot of these goals-against. But four weak five-hole goals in a row is unacceptable for an AHL starter.
• Jalen Chatfield was pulled from the Ashton Sautner pairing because that pair did atrociously against Binghamton. Friday night, the Chatfield, Brisebois pairing played just as atrociously. I’m all for Chatfield “playing with heart,” sacrificing the body, playing physical, and skating hard. But at what point is the team going to realize that Chatfield has been a drag in every pairing he’s been moved to? If he was contributing offense on a nightly basis, I would be able to forgive his defensive lapses. But he does not produce at the AHL level. Right now, the only thing keeping him in the lineup is his compete level and the fact that he can kill penalties. By my tracking, however, when Chatfield is on the penalty kill, the Comets give up the most shots. He leads the Comets in CORSI-against while on the penalty-kill by a 13 point margin.
• Carter Camper and Francis Perron had pretty solid nights, with both picking up three points apiece. Perron displayed great tenacity on the puck Friday and some sharp agility on multiple backchecking moments. There were a couple plays where he stood around watching the play unfold from the corner of the defensive-zone, but otherwise, the dude played good. Quietly, Perron has been one of the Comets best forwards this season, as he now sits with four goals and ten assists in 16 games played for the Comets
• After Saturday’s match against the Rocket, we’ll have reached the quarter-way mark of the season. This season, I’ve spent a lot of my time manually tracking CORSI/FENWICK related events. The purpose is for me to be able to provide a more comprehensive analysis of player performances. Now that the sample size has grown quite a bit, I’m excited to get into some report cards for the players. I’ve reached out to top men who know this stuff way better than I do. Hopefully, I’ve done my homework on the correct data to record, and I can confidently start discussing my findings to all you beautiful people who read my recaps. So despite the Comets brutal November slump, I’m excited that there’s some good that can from it!

 

Comets Three Stars

• Francis Perron
• Carter Camper
• Jonah Gadjovich

 

The Comets Trajectory?

They played earlier today, and now that I’ve sweated all the booze out of my system, I’ll move on to reviewing this afternoon’s rematch against the Rocket! Hopefully, have that one out later tonight!

If you want more Comets coverage from yours truly, you can now find MORE of my writing at thesinbin.net