Sens vs. River Rats 2/12/05 Articles: B-Sens fight past Albany; Emery among 7 ejected...
February 13, 2005

Posted by: Bob Howard
Credit: Scott Lauber of Press Connects.com

B-Sens fight past Albany

Emery among 7 ejected following 12-player brawl

BY SCOTT LAUBER

Press & Sun-Bulletin

ALBANY -- Watching them toil for the past four months as defensive forwards on the Binghamton Senators' third and fourth lines, it's been easy to forget that Pat Kavanagh and Charlie Stephens scored 24 and 20 goals, respectively, last season.

And even after they reminded everyone here Saturday, they'll still likely be forgotten.

Kavanagh and Stephens snapped identical 18-game goal droughts and the Senators busted their offensive slump and seven-game losing streak with a 7-0 romp over the Albany River Rats. But that was overshadowed by a 12-player brawl that netted 146 total penalty minutes, seven game misconducts, two match penalties and likely additional discipline from the AHL.

At the center of it all was temperamental Senators goalie Ray Emery, who retaliated after a Rob Skrlac cross-check by jousting with, then fighting, the Rats enforcer, who accused Emery of sticking him in the groin.

"A point shot was coming in and he cross-checked me, so I just whacked him," said Emery, who wound up at the bottom of a pile with Skrlac on top of him. "I heard him grimace, then he speared me, so I slashed him again. We just dropped our gloves and threw a few punches."

Skrlac, who earned 29 penalty minutes for the exchange, defended himself by saying, "I'm not just going to stand there and let a goaltender take away my manhood with his stick in front of the net. He sticked me in the privates, and I dealt with it accordingly."

Rats winger Brett Clothier received a match penalty for blind-siding captain Chris Kelly with a punch to the head, and Senators defenseman Jan Platil earned the same punishment for removing his helmet and using it to hit an Albany player. According to Rule 43A, the AHL will review both incidents and may levy suspensions after Monday's All-Star Game.

"I told (Kelly) earlier in the game to tell the referee that if they keep hitting our guys with late hits, it's going to be a problem," Senators co-coach John Paddock said. "They started it, and our guys did a pretty good job protecting each other."

The Senators also played their best game in weeks and won for the first time since Jan. 26. After taking 40 shots and scoring only once Friday night in Bridgeport, they buried their chances and Rats goalie Ari Ahonen, who allowed five goals before joining the brawl.

Stephens scored a bad-angle goal from below the goal line with 5:25 gone in the opening period to start the onslaught and made a pinpoint pass to spring Josh Langfeld along the right side for a shot over Ahonen's glove at 14:14 of the second.

Kavanagh, Stephens' road roommate and close friend, kept pace by dropping a pass for Brandon Bochenski to rip between Ahonen's legs with 1:14 left in the first and beating a poke-checking Ahonen to a loose puck for his own goal at 3:48 of the second.

"Me and Kavs, we've had similar streaks all year," Stephens said. "We're in similar situations and we talk about it a lot. We're roommates on the road, so we talk about almost everything, even life outside hockey. We've got almost exactly the same stats. It's pretty funny."

Their ability to laugh about less heralded roles on the most talented team either has played for is a credit to their characters. But with the Senators scoring only eight goals in seven games before coming here, coach Dave Cameron juggled lines earlier this week and put Kavanagh and Stephens in more familiar, more offensive, roles.

Emery found himself in unfamiliar territory in the third period: Guarding a large lead and holding a shutout. The Senators hadn't shut anybody out since last March 10 when Billy Thompson blanked Rochester. Emery's last shutout was Jan. 10 of last season.

"I was yelling over to the ref for him to not kick me out because I haven't had a shutout this year," Emery joked. "But it was a good win, something we really needed going into the (all-star) break."

Said Stephens, "We needed that win. Obviously, we've been struggling. It's nice to turn things around a little bit. Now we've got three days off, and we can enjoy them."