Xavier Parent Hat Trick Propels Utica Comets to 5-1 Win at Belleville

Xavier Parent scored three times and finished with his 13th goal of the season as the Utica Comets opened a weekend trip with a 5-1 victory at Belleville. Parent’s final tally - a backdoor finish at 18:55 of the second period from a Topias Vilen pass - completed the hat trick and put the game out of reach.

The Senators started the second period on the power play after Dmitry Osipov was called for boarding with 39 seconds left in the first, but the Comets were able to kill it off. Belleville broke the deadlock at 6:52 of the second when Carter Yakemchuk wheeled behind the Comets’ net and let a shot go from the left circle that beat Malek glove side to tie the game at one; Hayden Hodgson and Dennis Gilbert recorded the assists on Yakemchuk’s eighth goal of the year.

Utica responded at 11:18 when Matyas Melovsky glided into the offensive zone, made a cross-ice pass to Calen Addison who set up Xavier Parent on the doorstep for his 11th of the year which made it 2-1. Parent’s finish followed a series of zone possessions and set the stage for a decisive middle period for the Comets on Feb. 28, 2026.

The Comets got their second power play of the game when Belleville forward Jamison Rees was called for tripping and would capitalize when Xavier Parent scored his second of the period from the left circle on a nice set up from Calen Addison and Topias Vilen at 13:46 to make it 3-1. Just nine seconds later, Jonathan Gruden walked into the zone on an odd-man rush and fired a shot from the left circle that broke through Sogaard which made it a 4-1 Comets’ lead on Gruden’s sixth of the year. The Comets headed back to the power play towards the end of the period when Tyler Boucher was called for slashing, and it was Xavier Parent again, finishing a backdoor pass from Topias Vilen to make it 5-1 and completing the hat trick at 18:55. It was Parent’s 13th of the year and the Comets’ first hat trick since January 22nd of last season.

The sequence underlined Utica’s special teams impact in the middle frame: the power play goal at 13:46 and the late power-play finish at 18:55 turned a 1-1 game into a blowout. The result emphasized Utica’s depth scoring and special teams execution across the second period, when four Comets goals produced separation against Belleville.

Rotowire provided season context for Parent’s performance: “Parent has four goals over the last two games, which follows a six-game slump for the forward. He's at 13 goals, 24 points and a minus-5 rating over 43 appearances. That's a pace roughly in line with the one that earned him 36 points in 61 regular-season contests a year ago.” The hat trick pushed Parent into a hot stretch after the slump and matched the Comets’ need for secondary scoring options.

Goaltending notes from the game include Malek being beaten glove side on Yakemchuk’s tying shot and Sogaard allowing the Gruden tally that “broke through.” Final goalie stat lines were not supplied in the game report, but the scoring sequence and the three power-play goals were the decisive factors in the 5-1 final.