Comets Third Period Push Leads Them Past Rochester

The Utica Comets drove into Western New York on Friday night to battle their in-state rivals, the Americans, as the team is amid a three-game road swing away from Utica. Utica would ultimately rely on goalie Nico Daws to make one great save after another, while the team managed to fight back and strike quickly in the final period to skate away with the victory in enemy Rochester by a 5-2 score.

In the opening period, the Comets allowed the first goal of the game when they were shorthanded. It was a point shot that deflected on the way to the goal by Lukas Rousek at 3:08 and behind Utica goalie Nico Daws. After twenty minutes of play, the Comets trailed by a 1-0 score.

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In the second period, rookie sensation defenseman Simon Nemec fired a wrist shot off a face-off in the Rochester zone while the Comets were shorthanded. Nemec's goal beat Michael Houser at 18:34. The goal was assisted by centerman, Brian Pinho.

In the third period, Rochester took the lead again. The play, which was finished by Weissbach resulted in a 2-1 advantage for Rochester at 8:17. The Comets wouldn’t be silenced much longer, and it was Nolan Stevens who made a spectacular move to shelf the puck high to the glove side on Houser at 11:39 to score his fourth of the season. The goal was assisted by Nemec, who has a two-point night and Reilly Walsh.23 seconds later, Utica would grab their first lead of the game at 12:02 for his fifth of the season. The goal was assisted by Joe Gambardella and Jeremy Groleau and it put up the Comets 3-2. With just minutes left and the goalie pulled for Rochester, Tyce Thompson scored an empty net goal from Nemec. This put Utica up 4-2. Gambardella added another empty net at 18:38 to finish off Rochester.