Utica, NY – The Comets took the road to battle their divisional rival, the Rochester Americans, and dropped the contest by a 7-6 score losing back to back games in regulation for the first time this season. 
The Comets started the game allowing a goal 57 seconds in as a rebound off the pad of netminder Mareks Mittens was slammed home by Mason Jobst putting Rochester up 1-0. The Americans followed up with another goal and it was Matej Pekar who split the defense and made a nice moved around Mittens and struck at 1:50 to give Rochester a 2-0 lead. Once again, Rochester extended their lead as they got the benefit of a power-play goal scored by Brandon Biro at 8:59 as his shot drifted through traffic and into the cage. With Rochester holding a 3-0 lead and still on the power-play, it was the Comets’ turn and the captain led the way. Ryan Schmelzer found the loose puck inside the Utica zone and skated down the ice for a breakaway short-handed goal at 11:33. The Comets hit for one more goal in the first and cut the deficit to 3-2 when Tyler Irvine deflected the shot by Michael Vukojevic at 14:38 for his first AHL goal. With only 40 seconds left in the period, Rochester scored another power-play goal and it was Arttu Ruotsalainen who found the back of the net. The Amerks left the first period up, 4-2.
In the second period, Rochester continued the scoring when they received another goal from Ruotsalainen at 6:26 putting them up 5-2. Former Comets defenseman Mitch Eliot added another goal at 7:02 lifting the Americans to a 6-2 lead. Jack Quinn scored on a one-timer during a power-play at 11:27 and his team was up 7-2. Utica struck on a Robbie Russo point shot beat Americans goalie Robson through traffic and at 14:36 Utica cut the gap down to 7-3 as the second period ended.
In the final period of regulation, Utica defenseman Michael Vukojevic left the penalty box and deflected the Samuel Laberge shot into the goal at 9:48. The gap for Utica was 7-4. Schmelzer added another goal at 14:16 of the third to give the Comets their fifth goal. At 16:06 Tyler Wotherspoon fired a shot past Robson to close the gap to 7-6.
Ultimately, it wouldn’t be enough to fully close the gap, and the Comets skated away losing the contest.
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