AHL: Utica and Oklahoma City Head to Game Seven

The western conference semi finals have escalated in the AHL. Tomorrow night the Utica Comets and Oklahoma City Barons will face off in a game seven to determine who will advance to the conference finals.

Richard Bachman, who did see some time in the NHL with the Barons parent club the Edmonton Oilers, shined with 33 saves in the 2-1 Oklahoma City win from Utica.

25 of the 33 saves made by Bachman came over the last two periods where the Comets out shot the Barons 25-8 in that time span.

“Obviously, Bachman played well,” said Comets coach Travis Green to UticaOD.com. “But I thought we had played a good hockey game. We had a lot of chances to score, and we didn’t. That’s part of playoff hockey.”

Bachman has been the key for the Barons to even get to this point. He’s allowed just 13 goals in just under 430 minutes in this series. He’s left the Comets befuddled all series long.

“We had a first five tough minutes, and he played tremendous,” said Comets captain Cal O’Reilly in the sane article. “They packed it in pretty good, but we had enough good looks.”

The series has been tight from the start. Game one set the tone of the series when the Barons won in a record four overtimes. The second game of the series also went an extra frame, which the Comets won with the same 2-1 score.

The Comets, who are the American Hockey League club of the Vancouver Canucks, have an experienced goalie themselves. Jacob Markstrom has led them this series with 19 saves last game. He has started eleven games in the ayoffs and has allowed two goals or less in nine of them.

Just like the sixth game, game seven will be held at the Utica Memorial Center. The winner of this series will meet with the Grand Rapids Griffins, the AHL affiliate of the Detroit Red Wings, in the western conference finals.

Game six was important for the Comets as well as the Canucks as one if their prospects made his professional debut. Jake Virtanen, an 18 year old who was the sixth overall pick in last year’s draft, had a chance to crack the lineup due to an injury on the roster. The former WHL player with the Calgary Hitmen is expected to dress for game seven as well.

That game seven is tomorrow night at 7pm from Utica. Will Bachman step up again, or will the Comets break through?