—by Jay Flemma, Special to Facewash Magazine—
UTICA, NY – There was almost as much action before and after the Comets-Flames showdown at the Utica Aud as there was during it. Tempers flared early, often, and all game long…and even the clock showing 0.0 wasn’t the end. A replay review was needed before the final horn sounded on a 2-1 Comets win, propelling Utica head coach Travis Green to the AHL all-star game while spiraling Adirondack to their fifth straight loss to the Comets in five tries this season. The Comets (20-5-5, 45 pts.) retain the AHL’s best record and open up a seven point North Division lead over Adirondack, who drops to 18-12-1 (38 pts.).
Fresh off a stint in the NHL with the Canucks, fan favorite Frank Corrado tallied a goal and an assist for Utica, and line-mate Hunter Shinkaruk scored the game winner at 7:27 of the third off a rebound, while All-World goalie Jacob Markstrom made 18 saves, the last two of which came as time expired. After blocking a blistering-wrister from point blank range, Markstrom stuffed Adirondack center Max Reinhart’s wrap-around attempt with 0.5 seconds left, the rest of the Flames crashing the net all around him in a flurry of sticks, skates, ice shavings, and angry snarls. Gasping to the last breath, Flames wing Ben Hanowski tipped the puck past Markstrom, where it trickled tantalizingly along the line but never across it. In perfect position, referee Garrett Rank gave the “no goal” signal immediately, and video replay confirmed the call.
“They shot the puck, and then it hit me, and then it hit the post, and then everybody crashed the net, and it didn’t go in,” Markstrom explained.
“That’s about how it happened,” agreed AWITP correspondent Rodney Zilla, laughing mildly at Markstrom’s laconic assessment. “There were a lot of late flurries on both sides, especially by the Flames at the end. But again, it was that typical Utica Comets script: get a one-goal lead and then hang on for dear life as the goalie does ridiculous acrobatics, and the defense puts the clamps on.”
Indeed the defense did just that as Utica outshot Adirondack 34-19, dominating long stretches of the game. Yet they still needed Marky to work his inimitable magic to escape with another hair-raising win. Though the final flurry was the defining moment of the game, the highlight real isn’t complete without mentioning the true Save of the Game – a flat-out, cold-blooded, icy-hearted, ruthless, send-the-enemy-back-to-his-bench-muttering highway robbery of a glove save of a point-blank slap shot with 9:51 left in the game.
You know the feeling – AAAUGH! That dude is all alone at the circle! Total Hell! And sure enough Flames wing Bryce van Brabant, who scored Adirondack’s lone goal, was streaking toward Marky’s left a blistering slap shot leaving his stick. But with a blur of brown leather, Marky just grabbed it out of thin air.
David Blaine will be doing the same trick on a televised special later this spring. It was that good.
And of course, the Aud went so far into orbit, Audie could point out his home planet.
“That’s how loud that crowd was tonight,” noted Zilla. “Best and loudest crowd of the entire year so far, and that’s saying something. The energy tonight was incredible, even better than the Syracuse games. They are the fifth line.”
And they were ready from puck drop, though the Comets may have decided to play up the home ice advantage a bit with some extra-curricular activity. The puck had just dropped when the Comets’ Andrey Pedan and the Flames’ Mark Cundari starting throwing haymakers so fierce you could hear their fists whistle past their chins.
“It was on, it was on early, and Utica was sending a message – ‘You are not breaking our winning streak against you. Not tonight, not in our building,'” said Zilla.
“I just wanted to get the boys going, and so I asked around until one of their guys said, ‘Yeah, I’ll fight you,” explained Pedan afterwards, smiling impishly as he told the story.
“Players are smart,” added Coach Green, when asked about the chippiness of both the game and the rivalry. “They know when there’s a big game on the schedule, two good teams going at each other…there’s gonna be fisticuffs once in a while, there’s gonna be hard hits. Our team plays well when it plays with emotion.”
Despite all the emotion – flat-out palpable all night – and for a rivalry this fierce, the rest of the game had remarkably few penalties – just two more all game, both by Utica, but both were killed harmlessly by the second best PK squad in the AHL.
“We were playing so good defensively they didn’t get a lot of shots,” added Markstrom, always quick to pass around props to his mates. “I was never worried – I know we always get at least one in the third [period] and when we did they did a great job of shutting the door.”
Tonight the Comets host the Lake Erie Monsters – weird branding and all, from “South Bay Bessie” the mythical creature from which they take their name, to “Sully” the bird mascot who looks like a roided-up pigeon. The Monsters, last place in the Western Conference Midwest Division, got routed 4-1 by the Rochester Americans last night at Blue Cross Arena.
