The Utica Comets have a bit of a way to get there still, but early on, the beginning of the 2025-26 season feels awfully like the 2024-25 season. Last year, the Comets began the season with 13 straight losses, culminating in the firing of former head coach Kevin Dineen. Well, through four games this year, the Comets have yet to win a game, dropping two more this week despite grabbing early multiple-goal leads in each contest.
For last week’s review, click here.
Weekly Results
Rochester 7, Utica 4; Oct. 17
Utica’s first game of the week featured a seven-goal first frame and a four-goal final period. The Comets came out on the other side, thanks to the electric first period response the Rochester Americans had en route to a three-goal victory.
Utica got started off on the right foot with two goals in the game’s opening six minutes. Xavier Parent got the scoring started on the power play, then, Matyas Melovsky scored his first professional goal to get Utica the early 2-0 lead. Melovksy and Parent both factored in on each goal, giving them two points apiece just 6:04 into the game.
However, following those tallies, Rochester struck for five goals across a roughly nine minute period before the first horn sounded. Two of those tallies were power play goals. Rochester’s first goal, which did not come until the 10:20 mark of the period, was an embarrassing misplay by goaltender Jakub Málek who had the puck poked off his stick and into the back of the net.
Both teams were held scoreless in the second period, however, Rochester went back to work in the third. They extended their unanswered goal streak to seven, as they got two goals to begin the third to extend their lead to 7-2. Utica was able to get two late courtesy of Angus Crookshank and Thomas Bordeleau, each their first with the Comets. This made the final score look a bit better at 7-4.
Málek’s final line was rough, as he allowed seven goals on 27 shots. Utica actually outshot Rochester, 30-27. The Comets’ penalty kill went a subpar 1-for-3 while their power play got a single goal across four attempts. Calen Addison and Mike Hardman joined Parent and Melovsky as the team’s multi-point scorers in the game.
Toronto 3, Utica 2; Oct. 19
The second and final game of the week shared two distinct similarities with the 7-4 stomping on Friday. First off, Utica jumped out to a 2-0 lead, secondly, there were no goals scored in the second frame. Unfortunately, the scoreboard ended much like the first game of the week; reflective of another Comets loss.
As mentioned, Utica jumped out to another 2-0 first period lead. Nathan Légaré and Angus Crookshank got the tallies. It was Crookshank’s second goal in as many games and Légaré’s first of the year after setting a career-high (17) last season. Both came at even strength. Crookshank’s was a terrific snipe off a turnover while Légaré’s was off a beautiful passing play with Jonathan Gruden getting the primary assist.
The Marlies got one back before the period ended on a power play and that 2-1 Utica lead stood until the third. Toronto scored about nine minutes into the final frame to tie the game at two. Following that, with 11:27 left in the game, defenseman Dmitri Osipov, who was skating in his first game of the season (replacing Mikaël Diotte), took a five-minute major penalty for a hit to the head. It was a quite poor hit by Osipov which was really felt as the Marlies scored the game-winning goal on the ensuing power play. Utica was unable to answer back late and dropped their fourth in a row to begin the season 3-2.
Jeremy Brodeur, who was recalled from the ECHL after Nico Daws was promoted to the big club due to Jacob Markström‘s injury, got the start for Utica. He performed admirably, stopping 32-of-35. Utica had 26 shots in the loss and went a startling 0-for-7 on the power play.
Statistic Update
Angus Crookshank had a nice week for Utica. The 26-year-old scored in each of the Comets’ games. It is the first year he is with the organization as he came over from the Senators’ system. Crookshank scored 22 goals across 62 games last year and has displayed that goal scoring ability early on despite already missing a game due to injury.
As mentioned, Jeremy Brodeur was recalled from Adirondack of the ECHL to replace Nico Daws. Brodeur kept the Comets in the game, posting a 0.914 save percentage in his first start of the season. Interestingly, the 28-year-old has terrific AHL numbers as his career AHL save percentage is now up to 0.921 across 11 career games.
The Utica power play has become a major issue just four games in. After their 0-for-7 performance on Sunday, the unit is now clicking at a 5.6% success rate (1-for-18). This is the lowest rate among the 27 teams in the league who have scored at least on power play goal thus far.
Standings Update
Utica joins Belleville as the only two winless teams in the North Division. There are still seven winless teams in the league as a whole. Specifically, the Comets sit at 0-3-1-0 on the season.
The top five teams in the division qualify for the playoffs. It is extremely early, but Utica currently trails the fifth-place Rochester Americans by three points.
Upcoming Schedule
Utica has two more games this upcoming week. They travel to Syracuse to face the undefeated Crunch (4-0-0-0) on Friday. Then, the next day, on Saturday, Utica travels back home to face the Laval Rockets (3-1-0-0). Utica will play the current top-two teams in the division, one of which is one of four undefeated teams left in the league.