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Facing elimination, Utica Comets need to lean on Canucks prospects

Jonathan Dahlen and Lukas Jasek might be the Comets' only hope.
Jonathan Dahlen skates for the Utica Comets in the 2018 Calder Cup Playoffs.

Taking down the top-of-the-table Toronto Marlies was always going to be a tough task for Trent Cull and the Utica Comets. After dropping the first two games of the best-of-five series, however, it looks like they might have made things harder on themselves than necessary.

The Maple Leafs farm team was the class of the AHL this season, winning seven more games than the next best team with a goal differential of plus-84, 29 goals better than the next best team. The Comets had a goal differential of minus-5.

Still, the Comets had to feel they had a chance. Their season series with the Marlies was fairly even at 3-4-1 and they were bolstered by players sent down from the Canucks in Nikolay Goldobin, Tyler Motte, and Ashton Sautner, while the Marlies weren’t getting any reinforcements with the Maple Leafs still in the playoffs.

The Comets also had a few Canucks prospects join the team late in the season: Kole Lind, Lukas Jasek, and Jonathan Dahlen. Jasek and Dahlen, in particular, made a serious impact at the end of the season, immediately looking like legitimate top-six forwards.

That’s why it was confusing to see Dahlen scratched for the first game of the playoffs and Jasek scratched for the second.

The Comets had just three players this season who scored at a point-per-game pace or better: Goldobin, Jasek, and Dahlen. Of course, Jasek and Dahlen’s points came in smaller sample sizes — Jasek had 7 points in 6 games, Dahlen had 2 points in 2 games — but they were still two of the most talented players on the Comets’ roster.

Some Canucks fans were upset with the lineup decisions for development reasons — they felt that the Comets should prioritize Canucks prospects like Jasek, Dahlen, and Lind over AHL veterans — but it also seems like dressing both Jasek and Dahlen would have been more likely to lead to a win.

To be fair to Comets head coach Trent Cull, he’s done a phenomenal job this season. The Comets have been a patchwork all season, with 56 skaters appearing in at least one game with the club. By comparison, the Marlies have had 43 skaters play at least one game and have had a far more consistent core group.

With all the injuries on the Canucks, the Comets have had to make do with ECHL call-ups, players on Professional Tryout contracts, and loans — 21 players that appeared in the Comets lineup this season were loans from other organizations, compared to just two for the Marlies. Perhaps that says something about the Canucks’ organizational depth.

In a way, that’s really the team’s identity: a ragtag bunch of players who were never supposed to amount to anything, but under the tutelage of Cull managed to make the playoffs anyway. Perhaps Cull felt that underdog mentality and a tight-knit room was more important than bringing in a couple young prospects that hadn’t been there for the lean, tough months of the season.

After two losses, however, Cull should get both Jasek and Dahlen, and possibly Lind too, into the lineup at the same time. The Comets need to avoid the 3-0 series sweep.

Jasek was good in game one on a line with Michael Chaput and Zack MacEwen. He looked particularly effective on the second power play unit, sending a couple nice cross-ice passes to Tanner MacMaster.

While he occasionally had issues with the pace of play — he got nailed with a big bodycheck while stickhandling the puck inside his own blue line instead of getting the puck out — he was also one of the few Comets capable of creating offensive chances. Late in the third, he split the defence for a great chance and had an opportunity to win the game in overtime, but couldn’t flip a backhand over Marlies goaltender Garret Sparks.

The stars for the Comets in game one, however, were Nikolay Goldobin, Michael Chaput, and Thatcher Demko. Demko made 44 saves on 47 shots, Goldobin played a role in both Comets goals, and Chaput scored the tying goal in the final minute of regulation to send the game to overtime.

Goldobin plays the left point on the Comets first power play unit and he made a great keep-in at the blue line with his foot that led to the Comets’ first goal. Chaput fed the puck down low to MacMaster, who set up MacEwen in front for the finish.

Then, with Demko pulled for the extra attacker, Goldobin set up Chaput at the top of the zone and he drilled a slap shot into the top corner.

There were some negatives, of course. The Comets had some major issues with giveaways all game. Michael Carcone had a particularly brutal one that led directly to the opening goal of the game, as he tried to pass to Patrick Wiercioch and instead sent Jeremy Bracco in alone on Demko.

Carcone also had a bad penalty in overtime, but was otherwise noticeable for the right reasons, creating a couple scoring chances for his teammates with his skating and some heads-up playmaking. He turned a similar play into a goal for Cam Darcy in game two.

 

 

Despite giving up four goals, Demko was even better in game two than he was in game one, making several eye-popping saves. He may have only stopped 24 of 28 shots, but the goals that got past him were far from his fault.

The Marlies first goal came when Ashton Sautner chased the puck-carrier to the boards, leaving Pierre Engvall all alone in front with plenty of time to beat Demko. Their second goal was on a 5-on-3 and the goal was preceded by two fantastic saves by Demko before the puck squirted out of a scrum to Dmytro Timashov with an open net.

The third Marlies goal came on a 2-on-1 where Wiercioch couldn’t take away the pass, leaving Demko with little chance to make the save. Then the fourth goal came off a giveaway by defenceman Dylan Blujus that left Demko no chance to stop Carl Grundstrom alone in front.

When he had a chance to make the save, Demko made it. He was tracking the puck well and had excellent lateral movement, something that was a concern when he made his one-game stop in Vancouver. For the most part, he made even difficult saves look easy.

Here are a couple examples, as he robbed Frederik Gauthier in the opening minute of the second period…

…and stoned Grundstrom at the backdoor on a second period power play.

Goldobin picked up his second point of the playoffs on a Chaput goal, but the best forward on the ice for the Comets was Dahlen, who skated on a line with Goldobin and Darcy.

The trio of Dahlen, Darcy, and Goldobin provided some of the only extended offensive zone pressure for the Comets, with Goldobin and Dahlen seeming to find some quick chemistry

Dahlen nearly set up the opening goal of the game, springing Andrew Cherniwchan behind the Marlies defence with a great pass, but Sparks was up to the task. Dahlen was later robbed by Sparks on the doorstep from a Goldobin feed.

In the second period, Dahlen created two of the Comets best chances, driving out front from the boards before setting up a Wiercioch chance through traffic, then sending a backhand under Sparks that went through the crease and out the other side. A moment later, Dahlen pulled a puck out of the Comets crease, possibly saving a goal.

Dahlen had one more chance in the third period, as he got in behind Timothy Liljegren for a partial breakaway, but Sparks didn’t bite on Dahlen’s attempts to open up the five-hole and the scoring chance dissipated.

While Dahlen didn’t wind up on the scoresheet, it was clear that he should have been on the ice for game one. It seems like there was room to sit Vincent Arsneau (2 points in 20 games) in the first game and that Jasek could have stayed in the lineup for game two instead of bringing in Andrew Cherniwchan (10 points in 39 games).

At the same time, it’s easy to feel sympathy for Cull’s predicament. He has too many players on his hands now that the Canucks are done for the season and players have returned from injury. Alexis D’Aoust and Jayson Megna have been scratched for both games and now Reid Boucher, who led the Comets in scoring in the regular season, is healthy and has rejoined the team after clearing waivers.

Someone has to sit and it must have been an easy call to put the new guys in the press box. Now, with their backs against the wall, they deserve a chance to prove themselves.