Wilkes-Barre Township, PA – The Comets visited the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Saturday to conclude the season series and were victorious 3-2 in a shootout.
The Penguins came out with a strong start, testing Jakub Malek early on, but the Comets’ netminder was confident out of the gate. The Penguins were awarded the first power play of the game when Topias Vilen was called for slashing at the 3:05 mark, but just 34 seconds into the power play, Wilkes-Barre forward Tristan Broz was called for hooking which negated the rest of the man advantage. The Comets had some good looks of their own on Penguins’ netminder Joel Blomqvist, arguably their best coming from Lenni Hameenaho on a one-timer that was set up by Matyas Melovsky. Despite some good chances for both teams, the first period ended in a scoreless tie.
The Comets faced another shorthanded situation just 34 seconds into the second period when Lenni Hameenaho was called for tripping, but they walked away unscathed. A few minutes later, the Comets would get on the board when Kyle Criscuolo fed Cam Squires, who glided into the left circle and snapped one high glove past Joel Blomqvist for his first of the year to give the Comets the 1-0 lead at 5:07 of the second. It didn’t take too long for the Penguins to answer, however. After Raivis Ansons made a nice move out high, he fed Joona Koppanen who walked down the slot and beat Jakub Malek glove side for his third goal of the weekend and fourth of the year to make it 1-1 at 7:53. The Comets would regain the lead later in the period when Austin Strand fed Seamus Casey in the right circle who found Josh Filmon parked in front and tipped one past Blomqvist for his first of the year to make it 2-1 at 16:02. The Comets would hold a one-goal advantage heading into the third period.
The teams traded chances as the third period began and a little later on, the Penguins were able to tie the game after Owen Pickering’s shot was initially stopped, but Avery Hayes jammed it home past Malek to make it 2-2 at 8:07 on his ninth of the year. The teams would trade power play opportunities shortly thereafter, but the game remained 2-2 and it would stay that way through 60 minutes.
In the overtime, the Comets dominated time of possession and would go on the power play when Matt Dumba was called for interference at the 1:22 mark. Lenni Hameenaho nearly won the game after his shot missed the net, bounced off the back glass, off the back of Blomqvist and somehow stayed out. Five minutes of 3-on-3 was not enough to decide the game, and the teams headed to a shootout.
In the first round of the shootout, Lenni Hameenaho scored to give the Comets the 1-0 advantage, and that was all the Comets would need. Jakub Malek did the rest, stopping all three Penguins’ shooters as the Comets picked up their second road win in a row and their first shootout win of the season. Jakub Malek was terrific, making 31 saves in route to his second win of the year. The Comets outshot the Penguins 34-33 while going 0-for-3 on the power play and 4-for-4 on the penalty kill.