Otto Koivula scored for the fourth straight road game and extended his point streak to a season-best four games overall, but the Bridgeport Islanders (6-14-1-0), American Hockey League affiliate of the New York Islanders, fell to the Utica Comets (8-8-3-0) in a 4-1 loss at the Adirondack Bank Center on Friday.
Koivula has five points (two goals, three assists) in his last four games, and passed Jeff Hamilton (2003-06) for third place on the team’s all-time scoring list with his 157th career point. He tied Trent Hunter (2001-03) for eighth place on the club’s all-time goals list (60).
The Comets raced out to a 3-0 advantage before Koivula got the Islanders on the board midway through the second period. Tyler Wotherspoon forced home Ryan Schmelzer’s back-door feed just 5:10 into the game to give Utica a lead that it wouldn’t surrender. Graham Clarke, who had a game-high three points for the Comets (one goal, two assists), registered his seventh goal of the season at 1:24 of the middle frame to make it 2-0.
Clarke then set up Santeri Hatakka about eight minutes later to make it 3-0 at the 9:35 mark.
Koivula beat Nico Daws (1-0-0) at 12:11 of the second on a wrist shot from the left side following Ruslan Iskhakov’s spinning setup. Koivula elevated a shot over Daws’ right shoulder and Iskhakov earned his team-leading 17th point of the season. Paul LaDue was awarded his third helper of the year with the secondary assist.
The Islanders outshot Utica 15-6 in the third period, but Daws was spectacular in his first game back from offseason hip surgery. He outdueled Jakub Skarek (3-10-1), who ended the night with 21 saves. Max Willman tallied an empty-net goal at 18:50 of the third to solidify the 4-1 final.
Both teams went 0-for-2 on the power play. Bridgeport outshot Utica 32-25, limiting its opponent to less than 30 shots for the fourth straight contest.
The Islanders are 1-1-0-0 against the Comets, facing New Jersey’s affiliate again on Mar. 22nd and Apr. 2nd.
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