ROCKET
Laval

2-5

COMETS
Utica

Lineup

Forward lines and defense pairings: 

[one_half]Terry – Cracknell – Scherbak
Veilleux – McCarron – Baun
Petti – Audette – Boucher
Broll – Eisenschmid – Waked[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Gelinas – Taormina
Parisi – Juulsen
Leblanc – Lernout[/one_half_last]

Goaltenders:
Lindgren
McNiven

Scratches:

Thomas Ebbing, Zach Fucale

Injury List:

Jeremy Gregoire (day-to-day), Jeremiah Addison (shoulder)

Game Report

It’s always a physical, hard-hitting 60 minutes when the Rocket play the Comets, especially when they’re the visiting team in Utica. The energy of the fans filled the Adirondack Bank Center on Friday night for an exciting tilt between these two division rivals.

The first period was fast-paced as both teams came out flying. The Comets found themselves in the penalty box pretty quickly, however, and on a five-on-three power play Nikita Scherbak got the scoring started with an accurate wrister from the high slot.

With the Rocket on the man advantage again later in the period, Scherbak couldn’t control the puck at the blue line in the offensive zone and the resulting turnover allowed Andrew Cherniwchan to even the score at 1-1 with a shorthanded goal.

David Broll, drawing into the lineup for the first time in a number of weeks, made his presence known early when he dropped the gloves with Vincent Arseneau in a tilt which Broll quickly finished.

Laval came up with a shortie of their own early in the middle frame when Eric Gelinas combined with Kyle Baun to fire a shot past Thatcher Demko from the circle. The Rocket were playing hard, disciplined hockey and had some very good chances.

But then things took a turn when Philip Holm fired a puck past Charlie Lindgren from the blue line to tie things up at 2-2.  Soon after, agitator Darren Archibald received the puck at the point right off the draw and found mesh on his shot to give the Comets their first lead of the game.

The Rocket continued to slide in the third period as they found themselves in and out of the penalty box. The Comets capitalized on one such power play.  A spark of hope appeared when it seemed Yannick Veilleux had gotten a goal back for Laval, but after review the goal was waived off.

Utica controlled the puck for most of the third period, and despite Laval’s best efforts they just couldn’t seem to put enough pressure on the Comets to generate any sustained time in the offensive zone. In addition, the visiting team found themselves without Michael McCarron who didn’t return to the game in the third period after taking a hard hit in the second. An empty-netter by Archibald finished the game decisively.

The Rocket wrap up this short, two-game road trip with a visit on Saturday night to Binghamton where they’ll take on the Devils.

▲     Adam Cracknell, Nikita Scherbak, Brett Lernout, Yannick Veilleux

▼     Eric Gelinas, Chris Terry

1. Philip Holm  UTI
2. Thatcher Demko  UTI
3. Nikita Scherbak  LAV

Post-game interview with Yannick Veilleux

Post-game interview with David Broll

Post-game interview with Chris Terry

Interviews conducted by Amy Johnson for AHL Report

Nikita Scherbak with his sixth goal and 21st point of the season in his 16th game. @RocketSports #GoRocket @FlyersRule pic.twitter.com/4Cg8aGnVD4

— AHL Report (@TheAHLReport) January 6, 2018

.@philll25's fifth of the year ties it up at two! #LAVvsUTI pic.twitter.com/pY61uXLgBC

— Utica Comets (@UticaComets) January 6, 2018

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