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It’s never easy for a team to start their season on the road. It’s even tougher for them to spend it on an extended road swing. So you can imagine how excited the Utica Comets are to be home, having spent the entire month of October playing in other teams’ arenas. It will be worth the wait, as they open the Adirondack Bank Center tonight for a tilt against the Rochester Americans.
The Comets are coming off a weekend series in Charlotte, NC that saw them take the final game 6-3 after a pretty thorough ass-kicking the previous night, losing 5-1. Evan McEneny led the way for the Comets with a goal and 2 assists, and also got goals from Zack MacEwen, Reid Boucher, Nikolay Goldobin with his 4th of the season, and the Brendans: Gaunce and Woods each with their first of the season.
Thatcher Demko got the win, stopping 31 of 34 shots, moving his record on the season to 4-1 with a 1.61 GAA and .950 save percentage. And with numbers like that, it should come as no surprise that the AHL announced today that he is the CCM/AHL Goaltender Of The Month.
Despite the hiccup of Saturday’s loss to the Checkers, the Comets are looking pretty good heading into November. Nikolay Goldobin continues to impress as the team scoring leader (4-6-10) followed closely by his linemate Reid Boucher (3-6-9). The Comets special teams continue to impress, with the top ranked PP in the AHL at 33.4%, and their PK has been just as solid, killing off 89.5% of their penalties so far.
Tonight will be the 3rd meeting between the Comets and the Americans. Utica has the series lead so far, winning both of the previous contests, outscoring them 7-1 over the two contests. Demko should get the start tonight.