Comets Respond, Even Series With Barons
By Jay Flemma, Special to Facewash Magazine
Respond. That’s what the Comets did last night, as they have all season. They bounced back from adversity. Adam Clendening and Alexander Grenier each had a goal and an assist and Captain Cal O’Reilly dished out two assists as Utica topped Okahoma City 2-1 in overtime. The 7-game series is even at 1-1 as they head to storm-slammed Oklahoma City for three games next Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
It was the reverse of Game 1, where the Comets got ahead 1-0, then surrendered the tying goal in the second, before the two teams went scoreless for the next four-and-a-half periods. (That’s what happens when the number one and number two goalies in the conference lock horns.)
As an aside, I don’t know what was worse, Markstrom getting saddled with a loss after 65 saves, (many of them downright filthy, like when he’d snatch them from behind his head as they whizzed past his ear), or the way it happened, the puck ricocheting zanily off a skate right to the tape of a waiting Baron – Curtis Hamilton was Johnny on the spot – who just had to tuck it in the open side of the net. It may have been a loss, but that was arguably Markstrom’s best performance of the year, All-star Game included.
As a further aside, you’ve got to love how when Markstrom stands up, he looks like a Transformer unfolding. He’s the one we should be calling “Optimus Prime,” not that loudmouth Richard Sherman.
But you have to give credit to Richard Bachman, the Barons goalie. He was microns away from turning the Comets storybook season into a horror novel a la his namesake, by nearly giving the barons a 2-0 series lead heading home to the Sooner State. (Richard Bachmann – two Ns – is a pseudonym of horror author Stephen King’s for those of you scoring at home.) Bachman had 37 saves in Game 2 to go along with his 56 saves in Game 1, and had Comets fans on the edge of their seats, images of the four OT game still fresh in their minds.
“Not this again,” moaned one Comets fan, as Bachman stopped yet another Comets breakaway, this time a 2-on-none, the puck deflecting wide of the net as he stones Cal O’Reilly. “We just got rid of Bennington, and now we get this?”
That’s playoff hockey for you; you’re playing against the best of the best every night. The game is faster too: there’s regular season speed, and the there’s playoff speed. That’s what you need to survive and advance, and that’s what the Comets have, speed and depth. And relentlessness.
Finally…a local team that’s a badass.
Every time the Comets have faced adversity this season, they have responded. Marky gets called up to the Big Show? Joacim Eriksson takes his place and runs off a streak of wins. The team flounders through a slump in January and Adirondack starts to close the gap in the North Division? The Comets smear them and trigger another winning streak. The Chicago Wolves win a crucial Game 4 on a fluke own goal and a cheesy too many men on the ice penalty in overtime? The Comets will themselves to victory in Game 5. Meanwhile, even the fans get into the act: every game is sellout-sellout-sellout, whiteout-whiteout-whiteout. Single-minded fervor much like the group-think attitude that powers the team they love to love.
“They are so focused right now,” said fan Mary Ciccalese of Rome, who not only went to every home playpff game, but also went to Tony’s both nights for the broadcasts of the Chicago games. “They are tough and they play the whole 60 minutes…or more, even!”
They’re going to need that attitude. The Barons team that limped into and out of the Aud in March as they plummeted from the Western Conference’s top seed to sixth is not the same Barons team that swept mighty San Antonio in the first round and invaded the Aud for the last two days, pushing the Comets to their limits.
“We have a different lineup. Back then we had some injuries and Edmonton [their parent club] had injuries, and we were missing significant players. There were nights we had only nine or 10 forwards,” explained Hamilton. “Plus we were traveling a lot then and in that funk, and it’s tough to get wins late in the year when teams are in their prime, so we were a bit down then, but now we’re on the way up.
“We saw it happening, but there was no panic,” he continued, discussing the late-season swoon. “We knew we can play good hockey and come out of it, so for us it was just finding our groove again. And really, if you’re going to win a championship, you’ve gotta beat everyone, good and bad. You have to beat the best to be the best, so everyone just has to go out and just do their job. Play together, and if we all play together we know we can win.”
Even so, the Comets still have more firepower and speed. Defense and goaltending are the Barons’ strengths. Just like Bennington, Bachman is yet another goalie that can stone a team for an entire series.
“We have to try to play our game, not let the Comets force us to play theirs,” explained Bachman. “And we have to watch their rush. They have some speedy players that are really quick. They’re good defensively, and Markstrom’s an excellent goalie.”
When asked how the Barons intended to counter the Comets’ speed, it seems to Bachman that the best defense is a good offense.
“We have to get shots throw everything on the net. A lot can happen when you just throw the puck on net, especially if games are going to go into over time like this.”
The Barons did that in Game 1 – out-shooting the Comets by a 2 to 1 margin over the first forty minutes. But bit by bit the Comets chipped away until they nearly evened the stat at 54-52 by the time the sixth period began. Game 2 was more like the typical regular season script for the Comets as they out-shot Oklahoma City 38-23. They also controlled the flow of play significantly more than in Game 1 when even they will admit they got outplayed at times. That’s why the mantra Friday night was respond.
“That’s as good a response as you get when you ask a team to respond. That’s one of the best games we’ve played in a while,” noted Comets head coach Travis Green. “We did a better job of getting to the net tonight and getting traffic in front of their goalie….This was a huge win. It’d be tough going down there down two…but we still have a lot of work to do.”
“We played a really good 60 minutes and got it into overtime, and carried it on into overtime,” added Clendening. “There really wasn’t any panic button by our team at all. We stuck with what made us play in their end the majority of the time and it paid off.”
Thank goodness for Clendening’s redemption, by the way. Here’s a guy who was integral to the Comets surge to the top of the Western Conference standings, along with the co-arrival of Sven Baertschi and Cory Conacher. Poor Clendening had the horrendous luck of being the last man to touch the puck before it deflected behind Markstrom fo the tying goal in Game 4 against the Wolves. Then Clendening was in the penalty box for another Wolves goal. His contribution to the team has been so indelible for the time he’s been in Utica, it’d be a shame for that to have been that for which he was remembered. Now he’s back to where he should be – playoff hero.
Now the Comets head into the teeth of the maelstrom. The Barons are playing for a devastated city. They have first rate goal tending and defense. They’ve played five game this playoffs, four of them went OT, three of which they’ve won. Indeed, the Barons won a league record 14 OT wins in the regular season. Against the Comets, they are doing what they have to do to slow the rush somewhat – jamming up passing lanes, clogging neutral zones, moving the puck crisply and shooting from everywhere, which is pretty much what the Comets do too. That and more of that set play that worked twice last game: shoot from the point and try for a deflection.
“Anything with traffic in front gives us a better chance of scoring,” confided Alexander Grenier, who tallied the winner in Game 2, and he’s right. After all, they have to do something to get it past Bachman.
NEWS, NOTES, AND QUOTES
RIVALS IN HOCKEY, BUT FRIENDS FOR LIFE
All our collective hearts go out to everyone affected by the severe storms and tornados.
GIVING THEM THEIR DUE
Perhaps as a reward for scoring twice in Game 5 against the Wolves, but for Game 2 against the Barons, Coach Green started the line of Gaunce, Hamilton, and Bancks. Sure enough, they played terrifically both ways. Gaunce in particular tallied seven shots on goal, more than twice the number taken by any other player.
THANKS, GUYS!
Big “thank you” to both Rainzilla of KROCK and Scoop of WOUR for having me do some pre-game interviews and analysis. Look for them on my Jay’s Plays show soon and for more interviews as the post-season progresses. Hey! if Scoop from WOUR and Rainzilla from KRock had a mega-DJ rock-off who would win?
A. Scoop
B. Rain
C. The listening public
A betting man would go with C!
ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF UTICA COMETS AND LINDSAY MOGLE
