COMETS: Utica faces elimination after second-straight loss to Marlies
Utica has played first-place Toronto Marlies tough, but still trail best-of-five series 2-0
In a series that was supposed to be a relative cakewalk for the Toronto Marlies, the Utica Comets have demonstrated they can play with the best team in the AHL.
The problem is they’ve yet to demonstrate they can beat the Marlies, which is an issue because their margin of error in the best-of-five series has been reduced to a vanishing point.
Sunday, the Comets again played a sound team game while displaying an admirable resiliency — and it amounted to their second straight loss, a 5-2 decision in which the final count was inflated by three straight Marlies goals in the third period.
The series moves to Utica for Wednesday’s Game 3 at the Adirondack Bank Centre.
“It’s the definition of a must-win,” said Comets captain Carter Bancks. “We’re going to bring our best. We’ve got the best fans in the league and they’re going to bring a lot of energy. We can’t wait to get back there.”
Unfortunately, they’re bringing the Marlies with them.
The Maple Leafs’ affiliate led the AHL with 112 points this season and while they’re without some key players — here’s a scary thought; if the Leafs are eliminated on Monday, Kasperi Kapanen, Andreas Johnsson and Travis Dermott will be available for Game 3 in Utica — they continue to grind out wins with a trusted formula.
It starts with goalie Garret Sparks, who has made key saves at key times in this series, runs through a sound defensive system, and ends with an opportunistic offence fuelled by seven power-play opportunities Sunday.
“We’re not the kind of team that overwhelms teams,” said Marlies coach Sheldon Keefe, whose name has started to pop up in connection with NHL jobs. “We just stay with it, stay with it, don’t give up a lot and when we do our goaltending is great.
“That’s our recipe and that’s what we have to stay with. That was precisely what happened today.” Well, that and a lot of power plays. For the second straight game, the Comets surrendered seven man-advantage situations. And while they minimized the damage, allowing one power-play marker to Dmytro Timashov in the first period, the parade to the penalty box interrupted any sense of flow. In the second period, when the Comets produced promising shifts in the Marlies’ zone, they took three straight penalties, all of which came as they were building momentum.
“That’s on us,” said the Comets’ Michael Chaput, who scored for the second straight game and has been the team’s best player in the series. “We have to be more disciplined. It’s hard when you’re in the box for a third of the game. If we play them five-on-five that’s our chance to win.”
Comets head coach Trent Cull said: “You wonder why we didn’t have as much gas at the end, that’s why.”
Still, the Comets were in a 2-2 tie early in the third after Chaput’s power-play goal when the Marlies took the lead on an odd-man rush started when Martin Marincin stepped out of the penalty box and Colin Greening finished the play. Then Carl Grundstrom converted a Utica defensive-zone turnover into a fourth goal and Trevor Moore added an empty-netter.
Cam Darcy scored the Comets’ first goal midway through the first period.
“We gave ourselves a chance,” Cull said. “We battled back. Then we miss a couple of details and we gave them back their hope and momentum.”
On a positive note, Jonathan Dahlen made his AHL playoff debut for the Comets and helped produce a handful of prime scoring chances. In the second period, he rolled the puck through Sparks, which just missed on the far side. In the third he made a silky pivot at the Marlies’ blue-line but was turned away by Sparks when he broke in alone.
Dahlen, who played with Nikolay Goldobin and Darcy for most of the night, finished with three shots on goal.
“There’s a certain way we like to play that he’s not familiar with yet, so there are adjustments to be made,” Cull said of Dahlen. “But it’s all good. You can see he has hockey sense and he can play with good players.”
That just leaves the penalty problem to address.
“We’ve got to stay out of the box,” Bancks said. “We’ve taken 14 penalties through two games and that’s not a recipe for playoff success. I like a lot of the things we’re doing five-on-five and we’re getting some good zone time. We’re just not giving ourselves enough time to play five-onfive.”
And time is a luxury they no longer have.