Rising Up: B-Sens Beat Phantoms 4-3 In A Shootout

January 22, 2010 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Binghamton Senators News Release


BINGHAMTON, N.Y. -At the halfway mark of the 2009-10 season, the B-Sens sat tied for fifth in the East Division after losing a handful of tough games. Binghamton needed something to generate some momentum as they move closer to a playoff push. A win was what they wanted and a win was what they got, as the Senators beat the Adirondack Phantoms in 4-3 in shootout.

The Phantoms struck first on a give-and-go play just 22 seconds into the game. Jon Matsumoto began the odd-man rush as he fed a pass to David Laliberte streaking toward to the net. Laliberte returned the pass to Matsumoto wide open in the slot, who then flipped it over the right shoulder of B-Sens' goaltender Chris Holt to put Adirondack in the lead.

Adirondack added to their lead with just four minutes remaining in the first. In the neutral zone, Phantoms defenseman Joonas Lehtivuori dove to poke the puck to winger Jason Ward, who led a two-on-one into the Binghamton zone. Ward waited until the lone Sens defender drifted to him before slipping a pass to center Jonathan Kalinski, who skated in alone and fired a wrist shot past Holt to give the Phantoms a two-goal lead.

The Senators first got on the board in the opening minutes of the second period on the power play. Setting up in the Phantoms zone, defensemen Tomas Kudelka and Brian Lee played catch at the point before sliding a pass to Kaspars Daugavins down low. Daugavins roofed a wrist shot from the left faceoff dot over the right shoulder of goaltender Johan Backlund.

Binghamton tied it up off a scramble in the front. Kudelka took the initial shot from the point, which was bobbled by Backlund. The netminder lost sight of the rebound and the puck wound up in the middle of a four-player battle in the goal crease. Zack Smith, fresh off a eight-game recall with Ottawa, buried the loose puck into the net.

The Phantoms regained the lead with nearly three and a half minutes in regulation as a loose puck deep in the B-Sens zone found its way inching towards the vacant blue line, Adirondack center Ryan Dingle jumped off the bench and lasered a slap shot into the Binghamton net.

In an effort to tie the game, Holt was pulled for an extra attacker with just over a minute left in the game. Coach Nachbaur's move paid off as Ryan Keller wristed a hard pass from Daugavins under the arm of Backlund with 56 seconds remaining to send the game into overtime.

The game would go to a shootout. Denis Hamel, Keller and Martin St. Pierre would all score in the shootout, helping to propel the Senators to victory.

The Senators return to action tomorrow night as they host the Bridgeport Sound Tigers at 7:05 p.m.



American Hockey League Stories from January 22, 2010


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