Comets beat Marlies 6-3, extend point streak to seven games

Utica kept the pressure on in a way playoff teams do, and the Comets’ 6-3 win over Toronto on April 10 extended their point streak to seven games while keeping their late push alive in the North Division race. This was not a one-surge finish. It was a steady climb, with Utica scoring early, answering every Toronto push, and closing with enough depth to make the final margin look comfortable.

Austin Strand set the tone with the opening goal, then finished the night with a second marker as the Comets spread the offense across the lineup. Alexander Nylander also scored early in the second period, Mikael Diotte netted his first career AHL goal, and Matyas Melovsky converted on a 5-on-3 to keep Utica in control. Nathan Legare added the kind of goal that travels well into April, a shorthanded strike at 4:05 of the third period that pushed his goal streak to three games and gave Utica its league-leading 13th shorthanded goal of the season.

That one number matters. A team piling up shorthanded goals is not just getting lucky on the kill, it is turning defensive situations into momentum swings. Utica went 2-for-2 on the penalty kill and 1-for-4 on the power play, while outshooting Toronto 26-22. That is the cleaner story inside the 6-3 final: the Comets were not just opportunistic, they were the more organized team in the spots that decided the game.

Toronto still had answers. Vinni Lettieri and Borya Valis trimmed the deficit and kept the Marlies within striking distance at different points, but Dennis Hildeby was beaten repeatedly as Utica kept adding to the lead. Jakub Malek, meanwhile, stopped all nine shots he faced in the first period, helping the Comets settle in before the game opened up.

The bigger question is whether this is real late-season lift or just a hot stretch against a good opponent on the wrong night. The answer sits somewhere in between, but the evidence leans toward something meaningful. Toronto had already clinched a berth in the 2026 Calder Cup Playoffs, so this was not a soft landing spot, and Utica still needed the points badly while sitting six behind Rochester for the North Division’s final playoff spot. A seven-game streak does not erase that gap, but it does show a roster still playing with urgency, depth and enough scoring spread to matter if the Comets get a chance to keep going.