Comets Monthly: January 2020

The Comets came up on the positive side of their goal differential for January after outscoring their competition by a margin of 40-37. They finished the month going 7/52 on the power play and allowed 11 goals while down a man 60 times.

Speedy winger Justin Bailey picked up three of the Comets seven power-play goals, while Nikolay Goldobin grabbed a pair.

Bailey also paced the club with 12 goals and 16 points in his 11 games of action before being called up to the big club, while Olli Juolevi and Brogan Rafferty battled it out for top scoring honours on the back end with eight and seven points respectively. Bailey's big month saw him earn his first hat trick at the pro level and he promptly followed that one up with two more over his next three games, earning him AHL Player of the Week honours for the week ending January 19th.

Rookie goaltender Mikey DiPietro earned five of the Comets six wins in January and wrapped up the month with his first shutout at the pro level with a 27-save effort in a 3-0 win over the Cleveland Monsters.

DiPietro's 14 wins tie him for third-best amongst rookie netminders in the AHL, while his 2.70 goals-against average is fourth-best amongst rookie tenders. Only four other rookie goaltenders have a better save percentage in the AHL than DiPietro's 0.907%.

The Comets are still showing up all over the AHL's leaderboards as Reid Boucher's 50 points in 41 games still top the league, while his 24 goals tie him for second in that category with Belleville Senators forward Josh Norris and fellow Comet Justin Bailey. In fact, the Comets currently boast five of the AHL's top 20 scorers as Boucher, Goldobin, Bailey, Kole Lind, and Brogan Rafferty are all within the league's top-17 this season.

Rafferty's 39 points in 44 games have him one off of the club's record for points by a defenceman in a single season, set by Bobby Sanguinetti in the 2014/15 campaign. Rafferty's totals are also currently the best in the AHL by any defender.

As far as rookies are concerned, Rafferty is knotted with Sens' forward Alex Formenton for third in the AHL. Brogan's 33 assists are also six better than the previous single-season high for a Comets defender set by Patrick Wiercicoch in the 2017/18 season.

Rafferty isn't the only Comets rookie defender who is making noise as Olli Juolevi's 22 points in 39 games have him sitting fifth amongst AHL rookie rearguards. Olli is currently putting up 0.56 points/game and is on pace for a 38 point season.