Sens vs. Admirals 3/26/2005 Articles: B-Sens' fast start, Spezza's three points, too much for Norfolk
March 27, 2005

Posted by: Bob Howard
Credit: Tris Wykes of Press Connects.com

B-Sens' fast start, Spezza's three points, too much for Norfolk to overcome

BY TRIS WYKES

Correspondent

NORFOLK, Va. -- A group of roughly 50 Binghamton Senators fans made the trek below the Mason-Dixon Line for Saturday's game with the Norfolk Admirals at Scope Arena. They had plenty to cheer about and didn't have to wait long for it in the Senators' 6-2 victory that kept them in second place in the AHL's East Division.

The Senators scored on their first two shots and led 2-0 in the fourth minute. Chris Kelly got the first after goalie Adam Munro came out to try and clear the puck from the top of the right circle but had the effort kept in the zone by Senators center Jason Spezza.

Kelly took a pass from Spezza and moved in as Munro backpedaled frantically, beating the netminder with a shot through the legs. It was the Senators' 16th shorthanded goal this season, second-best in the AHL.

Anton Volchenkov got the Senators' second goal on a slap shot from the slot and over Munro's right shoulder. Spezza swatted the puck back to Volchenkov from near the left post.

Binghamton pushed its lead to 4-0 by the 18th minute, scoring its third and fourth goals nine seconds apart, a dubious Admirals franchise record.

Denis Hamel notched the third tally, hammering in a one-timer low and inside the near post from the right circle. Spezza, who had three points to boost his league-leading total to 98, followed with a goal from the low slot after an ill-advised Munro poke check acted as an inadvertent pass.

The score moved to 5-0 on the Senators' first shot of the second period, against relief goalie Michael Leighton. Pat Kavanaugh capped a breakaway with a backhand shot over Leighton's blocker, giving Binghamton five goals on just seven shots.

Goalie Ray Emery lost his bid for his first shutout of the season when Norfolk's Rene Bourque scored on a power play four minutes before the second intermission. It was Bourque's franchise-record 31st goal.

The Senators went up 6-1 with seven minutes left in the game after Kavanaugh swung behind the Norfolk net and threw a pass out front that bounced off defenseman Nick Kuiper and through Leighton's legs. The Admirals closed out the scoring on another Bourque goal with six minutes left, again on a man advantage.

Incredibly, the Admirals finished with a 40-18 shot advantage. Another eye-popping statistic was Senators defenseman Andy Hedlund's plus-5 rating in the game.

The teams meet again at 4 o'clock today in Norfolk.