The Comets got the start they were looking for, starting the power play just 1:26 into the game when Crunch defenseman Tommy Miller was called for high-sticking. Despite not capitalizing, the Comets scored shortly after the power play ended when Ethan Edwards from the left point sent a waking shot through traffic that beat Crunch netminder Ryan Fanti at the 3:40 mark to give the Comets a 1-0 lead. It was Edwards’ fifth of the year, with Jack Malone and Dylan Wendt picking up the helpers. Later in the period, Nathan Legare raced for a loose puck in the Syracuse zone and wristed a low blocker past Fanti to make it 2-0 Utica at the 9:27 mark of his sixth of the year, which came unassisted. It was a very chippy first period with two fights and several scrums after the whistle. Brian Halonen dropped the gloves on Crunch defenseman Wyatt Newpower, and later in the period it was Dmitry Osipov who took on Tommy Miller. Miller was injured and helped off the ice after taking several heavy punches from Osipov. The Comets got on the power play late in the first and with just 3.5 seconds left, Ryan Schmelzer fed Kyle Criscuolo, who tipped one home for his sixth of the year to make it 3-0. Jack Malone picked up the secondary assist.
The Comets started the second period shorthanded, but they were unfazed and scored their seventh shorthanded goal of the year when Angus Crookshank pounced on a loose puck after a Ryan Schmelzer collapse and a shot squeaked by Ryan Fanti to make it 4-0 at 1:59 of the second. It was Crookshank’s 10th of the year and ended the night for Ryan Fanti, who was replaced in net by Brandon Halverson. The Crunch would get on the board at 7:07 of the second when Dylan Duke deflected an Ethan Samson shot past Jakub Malek for his team-leading 20th goal of the year. Near the end of the period, Jonathan Gruden took advantage when Syracuse defenseman Chris Harpur dropped right inside the Utica blue line, giving Gruden an open lane in the offensive zone, who fired a shot through Brandon Halverson’s pads to make it 5-1 at 4:40 on his fifth of the year.
The Comets beat a lengthy 5-on-3 to end the second, which spilled into the third and kept their lead, en route to a 5-1 win for their third straight win at home against the Crunch. Jakub Malek made 26 saves en route to his sixth win of the year.
The teams finished the game with 27 shots each, as the Comets went 1-for-5 on the power play and 5-for-5 on the penalty kill. There were a total of 60 penalty minutes in the match.
#Utica #dominates #Crunch #home #Pro #Hockey #News