Comets rally past Wolf Pack

HARTFORD, C.T.. – Buoyed by three unanswered goals, the Utica Comets came back from an early 2-0 deficit to defeat the Hartford Wolf Pack 3-2 Sunday afternoon at the XL Center. The win was the first time the Comets won a game in which they exited a period trailing.

Hunter Shinkaruk (1-0-1) continued his torrid pace to start the season with his 11th goal of the year. . Alexandre Grenier (1-1-2), and Jordan Subban (0-2-2) enjoyed multi-point nights. Richard Bachman recorded his first win as a Comet with a 16-save performance.

The Wolf Pack jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead when they scored on their first two shots of the game. Nick Tarnasky, on a two-on-one rush, beat Bachman with a wrist shot after a Comets neutral zone turnover. Utica Comets logo

Just a minute later, Jayson Megna scored his fourth goal of the season with a wrap-around, this one coming on the power play.

The Comets finally solved Mackenzie Skapski about midway through the second period. On the power play, Jordan Subban hammered a slap on net that Skapski denied. Grenier collected the puck and backhanded it over the sprawled out goaltender for his first power-play goal of the season, and third goal overall.

Shinkaruk re-gained a share of the American Hockey League lead in goals with his 11th goal of the season, his sixth on the power-play. Grenier cleanly won an offensive zone draw directly to Subban, who quickly settled the puck and slid it Shinkaruk. From the right face-off circle, Shinkaruk rifled a wrist shot past Skapski to knot the game at 2-2.

The Comets came out firing in the third period and their efforts paid off in the form of a go-ahead goal. Darren Archibald put home a rebound that came off of an Alex Biega blast just 4:49 into the third period.

With the win the Comets record improved to 6-8-1-1 on the season, while the win dropped the Wolf Pack’s record to 8-9-2-0 this season. The Comets power play converted on two of their five attempts, while the penalty-killing until was successful five out of six times.

Leave a Comment