Ben Birnell

UTICA Darren Archibalds strong season continued Friday.

The 27-year-old veteran forward, who has made some big plays for Utica in his sixth professional season, turned in another solid performance for the Comets against the Atlantic Divisions top team in the slumping Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

"Its nice to have bounce-back year after battling injuries the last couple of years," Archibald said.

Archibald had a highlight-worthy backhand effort in the second period and rookie Thatcher Demko stopped 27 shots to help the Comets edge the Penguins 2-1 before another announced capacity crowd of 3,870 at the Utica Memorial Auditorium.

"I was able to get some speed and past the defender and tucked in on my backhand," Archibald said of his career-best 17th goal of the season that started with a setup pass from Michael Carcone.

Jordan Subban also scored in support of Demko, who snapped a personal four-game winless streak. The Comets (21-23-7-2, 53 points), who are 4-7-2-1 in their last 14 games, have at least a point in three straight contests.

"We knew coming in, it was going to be a hard-fought game," Archibald said. "Theyre a good team. I thought we had a real strong game. I liked the way we played tonight. We stuck with it."

It was an important victory for the Comets, who were without points leader Alex Grenier and defenseman Evan McEneny because the parent Vancouver Canucks are dealing with a mumps outbreak among five players. Combined with St. Johns overtime loss to Albany on Friday, the Comets pulled within three points of the IceCaps for the fourth and final North Division playoff spot with 23 games remaining in the regular season.

"It was a big win. It was really good team effort," Comets coach Travis Green said. "Every win is big this time of the year. You dont beat teams like that unless you dont have everyone going and we had everyone going tonight."

First period

The Comets struck first to win a back-and-forth opening 20 minutes.

Utica got on the board on a nice play by Pascal Pelletier, Mike Zalewski and Subban. Just after the Comets held the Penguins (37-13-3-0; four consecutive losses) in check on their first power play, Pelletier won a puck battle near center ice and found Zalewski near the Penguins blue line. The forward broke into the zone and sent a short pass to a streaking Subban, who buried his 13th of the season high over Tristan Jarry (23 saves) from the right circle. Subban is tied for second among defensemen in goals.

Second period

The Comets continued to pressure they outshot the Penguins 15-13 and were rewarded near the middle of the period.

However, the Penguins thought they made it 1-1 less than four minutes in. Ryan Haggerty had a short breakaway, but Demko sprawled out to make a pad stop on the right side. An official review confirmed no goal.

Archibalds strong speedy effort to get past a Penguins defenseman gave the Comets a 2-0 lead with 10:17 remaining. It was the second goal in three games for Archibald, who has played in every contest this season

"Im just trying to be a dominant, physical force every night," Archibald said.

Demko turned aside several good chances on the Penguins third power play near the middle of the period to keep it 2-0.

"(Demko) was good tonight. He had some confidence and you could tell," Green said.

Third period

Despite the Comets not getting a shot on goal until about five minutes left, the game remained unchanged until the Penguins pressured and got the board with 11:10 remaining.

With Andrey Pedan off for tripping, the Penguins broke up Demkos shutout when Tom Kostopoulos directed in a short pass from Dominik Simon for his team-best 19th of the season. It ended a streak of 15 consecutive penalties killed by the Comets.

The Penguins continued to pressure and pulled Jarry late for a 6-for-4 advantage with Pedan in the box again, but Demko and the Comets held them off.

"PK is a tough job out there. You have to get in shot lanes and block shots," Archibald said. "The PK has to bail you out sometimes and come up big."

Up next

The Comets close a five-games-in-seven-days stretch when they travel to Binghamton for a 7 p.m. start Saturday for the first of two meetings against the Senators in the next week. The Comets are 0-2-1 this season against their division rival this season.

NOTES: Fridays game was the 82nd consecutive sellout for the Comets, though there were a few unfilled seats throughout the Aud. Derek Hulak (34 consecutive games) and John Negrin (21 consecutive games) were not in the lineup due to injuries. The Comets are 14-8-7-2 in one-goal games this season.

Comets 2, Penguins 1

W-B/Scranton 0 0 1 1

Utica 1 1 0 2

1st Period-1, Utica, Subban 13 (Zalewski, Pelletier), 10:25. Penalties-Hamilton Uti (tripping), 7:40; Virtanen Uti (high-sticking), 11:34; Burton Wbs (high-sticking), 18:06.

2nd Period-2, Utica, Archibald 17 (Carcone), 9:43. Penalties-Pouliot Wbs (interference), 5:12; Sautner Uti (cross-checking), 10:52; Blueger Wbs (holding), 14:13.

3rd Period-3, W-B/Scranton, Kostopoulos 19 (Simon), 8:50 (PP). Penalties-Pelletier Uti (tripping), 3:02; Pedan Uti (tripping), 7:32; Burton Wbs (hooking), 14:22; Pedan Uti (cross-checking), 17:21; Sundqvist Wbs (high-sticking), 19:17.

Shots on Goal-W-B/Scranton 5-13-10-28. Utica 7-15-3-25.

Power Play Opportunities-W-B/Scranton 1 / 6; Utica 0 / 5.

Goalies-W-B/Scranton, Jarry 22-11-1 (25 shots-23 saves). Utica, Demko 10-11-4 (28 shots-27 saves).

A-3,870.

Referees-Furman South (44). Linesmen-Jim Harper (59), Jason Brown (44).

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Archibald, Demko help Comets edge Penguins - Sports - Uticaod ... - Utica Observer Dispatch