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The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins were up 3-1 and seemingly in control.
Until they weren’t.
Eight seconds is all it takes for the Utica Comets to score a pair of goals in the second period, then a tense third period sees Dmitry Osipov score with 30.8 seconds to play and the Utica Comets defeat the Penguins 4-3 Friday night in Central New York.
I didn’t particularly like the games from a few guys in particular, but let’s save that for later.
Here’s how they lined up:
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Lineup Notes: Rafaël Harvey-Pinard made his season debut after missing the start of the season due to injury, Justin Brazeau played game one on his conditioning stint and Avery Hayes was back from Pittsburgh for Hugh McGing (lower body, day to day) Lucas Ciona and Tiernan Shoudy, which if you read the weekend preview like I knew you did, know he was sent to Florida. On defense, Phil Kemp yielded to Chase Pietila, back from Pittsburgh.
First Period: Pens didn’t waste any time, scoring on their first shot of the game from Melvin Fernström here at 2:46…
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But Utica was quick to respond, scoring at 4:54 when Lenni Hämeenaho picked off a D to D pass (Brunicke to Pickering) and skated all the way in and scored to make it 1-1…
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Undeterred, and on the penalty kill, Avery Hayes scores shorthanded at 10:07 and the Pens re-established the lead…
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I don’t think Hayes has anything to prove in the AHL anymore and Pittsburgh should either call him up and play him or embrace the tank already and call him up next year.
Second Period: Atley Calvert, who will be in Pittsburgh one day, fed Bill Zonnon here that made it 3-1 Wilkes-Barre at 5:43 of the period…
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Utica killed the Penguins only power play of the contest to this point and had momentum and had Wilkes-Barre hemmed in a bit and Brian Schmelzer’s goal here at 13:48 brought the Comets to within one…
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But eight seconds later, Shane Lachance outmuscles Owen Pickering and the game is tied!
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Just brutal.
So the Pens go from being in control of the game then just like that, it’s a tie contest headed into the…
Third Period: Nothing doing for either side in an evenly matched period that saw each team trade a power play with no success, then Utica catches the Penguins in their own end and then Osipov here, with the dagger…
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Brutal. With Joel Blomqvist pulled the Penguins couldn’t even set up, coming out of the time out called.
Three Stars: 3) Ryan Schmelzer (goal, assist) 2) Shane Lachance (goal) 1) Dmitry Osipov (goal)
The Good: They played well for the first half of the game, but obviously let off or were unable to finish.
The Bad: It’s a point they are going to wish they had in March of April. Owen Pickering continues to struggle and Joel Blomqvist can’t make saves when he needs them. I’d argue they are the biggest weaknesses on the team right now.
Turning Point: The two goals scored in eight seconds crawled so the Osipov goal could walk.
Around the Division: Toronto beats Hershey at home 5-3….Charlotte and Iowa are in second intermission when this post goes up, link to the box here….Hartford beats Belleville 4-1…Lehigh Valley loses in Rochester 6-3 and Providence rallies from down big to beat Springfield 7-6 in overtime.
Standings: Can’t really update these because Charlotte is having all the fun playing a Western Conference opponent, so let’s leave the standings link here and you can check in at your leisure.
Florida Update: The Everblades were in Greenville, South Carolina Friday and lost 5-4 to the Swamp Rabbits (their real name) – reigning ECHL Goaltender of the Week Cam Johnson took the loss. Tiernan Shroudy had a goal and and assist and was a +3.
Video Highlights: Utica’s YouTube page is here. The highlights aren’t up at press time.
They will have Halloween off. If any of them knocked on my door, I’d send them away with carrot sticks and raisins based off of tonight’s performance. They will play Hershey at 5 on Sunday in Hershey and you can bet the Bears will be ornery after losing Friday as well so it should be a good matchup.
Let’s Go Pens!
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