Great preview by Mark Caswell. You can read it at the Comets site here.
The Wolves were the one team that scared me more than any other with their speed, tape-to-tape passing, and chippy-ness. They were unfazed coming into the Aud for two games, trouncing the Comets 3-0 and then bowing 4-3 on a late seeing-eye, bouncing puck that trickled over the goalie’s stick and in. For a 1-8 match-up th two teams are ludicrously even.
“The Wolves just came out of a Murderer’s Row of a division,” said hockey expert Bruce Moulton. “You play Grand Rapids and Rockford for as many games as they did and se what your record looks like. Meanwhile Utica feasted on Adirondack 10-2.”
Here’s the most interesting nuggets from the preview article:
One of the more hotly debated topics in the Mohawk Valley this week centered around the Comets’ decision to begin the series on the road in Chicago. Due to the AHL’s first round five-game series playoff format of 2-3, the Comets’ coaching staff was forced into deciding whether they wanted to open the series with two games on the road and the final three at The AUD, or the first two at The AUD and the final three on the road. Travis Green and Co. chose the former. The decision was not an easy one and it was one that was closely analyzed. One of the deciding points was just how good the Comets were on the road (22-10-4-2) this year. The best in fact. With a winning percentage of .658%, the Comets were more successful on the road, than the Wolves were at home (19-15-3-1, .568%).
Also see:
The Comets held a slight advantage in goals (9-8) and points in the series (5-4) due to a Wolves overtime victory….
Getting an early lead has proven vital to both team’s success. The Comets lost just one game when they led after two periods (36-0-1-0) this season, while the Wolves went the duration of the season undefeated (30-0-0-0). Those impressive marks aren’t an anomaly for either team. The Wolves have not blown a two-period lead in 47 games, with their last loss coming back on Dec. 28, 2013. The Comets have a similar stretch with a 15-0-3-0 record during the 2013-14, and a franchise mark of 41-0-4-0 when leaving the second period with a lead.
