A scoreless first period was an aberration for the Utica Jr. Coments but a sign of things to come for the Twin City Thunder on Monday.
The Thunder were shut out by the Jr. Comets 4-0 in a USPHL NCDC game at Adirondack Bank Center at the Utica Memorial Auditorium in Utica, New York.
Twin City (13-23-2-0, 28 points) was outshot 9-5 in the opening 20 minutes, but Thunder goalie Aaron Matthews turned all those Utica shots away.
The Jr. Comets (24-14-2-1, 51 points) finally broke through about six minutes into the second period when Alexander Keller beat Matthews.
Niko Benjamin doubled the Utica lead to 2-0 with a power-play goal nine minutes later.
Bryce Howard notched his first assist of the season for the Jr. Comets on Robert Gatewood’s third-period goal, then Howard scored his first Utica goal to round out the scoring with 3:33 left. Gatewood had the secondary assist on the final goal.
Seth Ferguson recorded two assists for Utica.
Matthews finished with 35 saves on 39 shots, while Utica’s Waylon Esche stopped all 20 shots he faced.
The Jr. Comets were 1 for 2 on power plays, and the Thunder went 0 for 3.
Twin City returns to action Friday against the Mercer Chiefs at Foxboro Sports Center in Massachusetts.
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