Comets flex in-your-face muscle
Eager crowd helps energize Utica to deny Toronto a sweep with 5-2 victory on home ice
UTICA, N.Y. — They came on Wednesday night, seemingly half the population of this city of 60,000, to see an AHL playoff game and damned if a series didn’t break out.
Facing elimination on home turf, the Utica Comets rode the energy of a raucous sellout crowd, a lightsout goaltending performance from Thatcher Demko, a gritty performance from Reid Boucher, and a soupçon of Jonathan Dahlen to a 5-2 victory over the Toronto Marlies at their home cathedral, The Aud.
The Marlies still lead the firstround, best-of-five North Division series 2-1. Game 4 is set for Friday night in Utica where, it figures, the loonies will be back in force.
Game 5, if necessary, is set for Toronto on Sunday afternoon.
“It was great,” said Comets head coach Trent Cull. “The home cooking, the whiteout, the atmosphere. I haven’t experienced that before in the playoffs and it was electric.
“With (Canucks winger and former Comet Darren Archibald) dropping the puck and the whole thing, it was just a great first period ... I’m happy with this.”
So is their city.
Using a simple but lethal formula, the Canucks’ AHL-affiliate opened a 3-0 lead with three goals in a six-minute span in the first period, then turned things over to Demko who stopped 35 of 37 shots.
Boucher, making his first appearance since breaking his hand with the Canucks in Columbus on March 31, opened scoring on the power play, before Wacey Hamilton, with an assist from Dahlen, and Cole Cassels drove Marlies starter Garret Sparks from the game.
Demko made the lead stand up with a tight performance but he had help. Late in the first, the Comets killed a two-minute, five-onthree without surrendering a shot. Defenceman Ashton Sautner took a lead role in the crucial sequence as the crowd erupted over the final seconds of the kill. Ninety minutes later they were on their feet again as the clock ticked down to zero, chanting Ut-ic-a, Ut-ic-a at a volume that could be heard in Syracuse.
“They were awesome,” said Boucher, an AHL All-Star. “It gave us the extra step we needed. That’s part of the home-ice advantage.”
The Marlies, and the ace refereeing tandem of Pierre Lambert and Brandon Schrader, made things marginally interesting in the third period when Calle Rosen scored on the power play, one of seven man-advantage situations for the visitors bringing their total on the series to, wait for it, 21.
But the Marlies also hit two posts before Tyler Motte scored the insurance goal with just over five minutes left, negating a late Marlies goal. Cassels added an empty-netter for his second of the night.
“We had a good forecheck and got pucks behind them,” said Cassels. “We played in-your-face hockey and the crowd was awesome. We fed off their energy.”
“We need to clean that up some more,” Cull said, referring to the penalty parade. “We can’t give those opportunities away. Right now that’s our weakness. “
Motte finished the night with six shots on goal. Dahlen took a regular shift with Hamilton and Michael Carcone and, again, was a regular contributor.
Things figure to be tougher for the Comets on Friday. With the Maple Leafs elimination at the hands of the Boston Bruins, Kasperi Kapanen, Travis Dermott and Andreas Johnsson will be eligible to rejoin the Marlies. All three players had been with the Leafs in the post-season.