Story of this game from a Canuck perspective is the continual improvement of Dalhen. He is moving so much better around the ice and is showing the speed to get separation to make a play. Rather than hanging out on the fringes he is controlling the puck and distributing it. If he can continue this progression he may get a call up this year (depending whether the Canucks continue in the playoff race). I think you can have some renewed hope for this player. We'll see.
Others I liked
Chatfield - by far the best game since his return from injury. Skated better and stayed out of the problems he had recently
Leighton - playing as well as any goalie for Utica has this year. Who knew.
Darcy - has been playing well for awhile but hasn't got the ice time before all the call ups. Showing good speed on the rush
Arsenault - I don't know - described as ECHLer but every time I see this player he shows well. Has speed, size and not a bad shot.
Kero - work horse both ways. Good glue player
Woods - continues on a good run with the team. Finally healthy and skating well.
Others
Lind - needs to hold his feet better and get stronger in puck battles but skating is fine and he is good passer.
Jasek - has been showing improvement as well. Like to see him finish better in terms of play making and scoring. Still a tendency to play in spurts.
Gadjovich got hurt and sound like Reid Gardiner will replace him. Gardiner looked pretty mediocre with Utica earlier this year but he is white hot in the ECHL. (26 goals and 53 points in 36 games)
Others have games in hand but the Comets only 3 points out of first
"Others have games in hand but the Comets only 3 points out of first"
Not to be a Debbie Downer, but they are also 4 points ahead of fifth and out of the playoffs.
This Division is seeing roller coaster movement from the teams 3-6 chasing and nipping at the heels of each other as well as the 2 on top. This race is going to go right up to the final day.
Not seeing your positives from Chatty. He was guilty of several of the same turnovers as always and was once again front and center for both opposition goals last night. The only Comet on the ice for both goals.
He has played 21 games, is -13, and has been on the ice for 30 goals against. He has a long ways to go before I'm going to say he is on the right track.
Jasek, like Lind, spends too much time in the offensive zone coasting and gliding around waiting for something to happen instead of busting his butt and making things happen like he needs to do and has briefly shown he can do. As you say Dahlen has just started to do that and he is looking better. Not "real gud" yet, but better. Lind is picking it up in the same way and playing in the bottom 6 with grinders has helped him figure that out.
Woods is having a good run for a 4th line center, where he should be, but isn't. To Cull, Wacey owns that #4 spot. Without Gaudette, Gaunce should be #2, Darcy #3, and Woods #4. If Cull, feels he has play Wacey, Woods can be LW in the same way Arseneau is playing RW. It's really stretching it to call a guy with 9 points in 32 GP worthy of the 2nd line center spot with Dahlen and Jasek.
The main problem with Darcy is he is playing a wing's game but skates at center. His passing skills are highly lacking which is the main reason I think we see Lind and Gaunce kind of skating in limbo. on his line. They need the puck and Darcy is a very poor distributor. Putting Gaunce in the middle with these 2 guys would be an uptick.
Leighton has been a godsend at the moment and is doing way better than McKenna has been doing recently at the AHL level. Too bad we can't say Benning knew this would be the case, because he was clueless in this whole goalie debacle. He needs to get signed and with Mazanec become the Comets 1-
2 from here on out.
I love the effort Kulbakov has made to hold the Comets afloat, but he simply isn't ready yet. He lets in way to many goals, period. He has adjustments that need to made in his game and hopefully he can work that out with the Canucks organization playing a big part in that. He should be number 3 for the Comets next year and carrying the load in Kalamazoo. Frankly, he should be allowed to compete with Bachman and DiPietro for one of the 2 spots in Utica. Competition is a good thing. In 6 seasons there has never been another keeper after the 2 in Utica that was capable of playing up to their level.
The Canucks need to get him on board or another franchise is going to snap him up based on what he has done in the AHL with Utica this season. He can be a #2 for a lot of AHL teams. He will only just turn 23 at the beginning of next season.
LeBlanc has helped the D to settle in along with a magnificent effort from Schenn by simply modeling the game these kids have to play. Neither Wiercioch nor Holm did that last year. Fact is they haven't had one of these types since Huskins retired after the 2014-15 season. Like Huskins, Schenn is an NHL veteran who is a prototypical defensive D-man with perfect positioning, plays physical, but not running around looking for big hits, clears the crease and knows how to prevent guys in the crease from getting to shots or loose pucks without committing a penalty, always keep his opponent to the outside and despite his lack of foot speed never gets beat wide, and his passing is spot on. He is also dependable enough to play the blueline on the second team umbrella. Stefan is developing that same game, but he can also skate the puck. This kid was a big win at the cost of nothing but MacMaster. Might want to think about signing this kid in the off-season. He definitely has promise. Benning has to dump some of his dead weight to make room for a couple of these guys.
Pyatt is "steady eddie" and has been such since his arrival. Not nearly as colorful as Archi and can't even try to duplicate his physicality or take over his leadership role, but he is a good 2-way hockey player.
McEneny and Sautner are looking like nothing more than AHL players. They usually do their job, but cough up unnecessary pizzas way too often, still get caught out of position, and misfire on their passes way too often. McEneny is just not a good enough skater any more. Sautner since his injury is trying to be much more physical as if it will keep guys from running him. He's doing it with a full cage. Not the brightest of moves IMO.
I hope Gadj's problem is a minor one as he was starting to work well on the checking line with Arseneau and Hamilton.
The kids are starting to play with less hesitance which got them into trouble all of the time. It also caused them to be a day late in everything they tried to do: block a pass or shot, get their shot off, get to a loose puck, make a hit, make a pass, take a pass, etc.