Sens vs. Penguins 4/23/05 Articles: Pens tripped again; W-B/Scranton trails 2-0...
April 24, 2005

Posted by: Bob Howard
Credit: Patrick Williams of Times Leader.com

Pens tripped again

W-B/Scranton trails 2-0 in the best-of-7 series, with Game 3 tomorrow at home.

By PATRICK WILLIAMS For the Times Leader

"If there are hockey gods, they are not on our side for sure."
Michel Therrien Penguins head coach

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. –- Michel Therrien used the referee-baiting card in Game 1.

For Saturday night’s 4-2 loss to the Binghamton Senators in Game 2 of the East Division semifinals, he played the always trusty Andy Chiodo card.

Just how many more cards Therrien has in his coaching bag will be a story that unfolds in a series that the Penguins now trail two games to none. The teams head south on I-81 for tomorrow night’s Game 3 at Wachovia Arena.

"If there are hockey gods, they are not on our side for sure," Therrien lamented afterward.

Therrien’s bunch came to Binghamton with the goal of splitting the two games. That objective went unaccomplished, despite the Penguins outplaying the Senators for the better part of Game 2.

Therrien only waited until Game 2 to turn to Chiodo. Therrien, who was not pleased with Marc-Andre Fleury’s work in Friday night’s 5-2 loss, inserted Chiodo amid much mystery and speculation.

Chiodo showed some definite signs of rust, appearing to fight the puck on several Binghamton chances. He could not particularly be faulted for the loss, but he certainly did not put the Penguins in a position to steal a win, either, stopping 24 of 28 Binghamton shots.

Binghamton broke open a 1-1 second-intermission tie and rocked Chiodo for three goals in the first 12:46 of the third period.

As if the Penguins did not have enough to key on with the Jason Spezza and Antoine Vermette line, they now have Charlie Stephens to worry about as well. Stephens scored two of his three goals in this series, and Chris Neil and Brandon Bochenski scored as well for Binghamton.

Ray Emery was solid again in the Binghamton net in turning aside 29 of 31 Penguins shots. Kris Beech and Eric Christensen put the night’s only blemishes on Emery’s record.

Besides Chiodo, Therrien changed up his defensive pairings as well. Out went Drew Fata with an undisclosed "injury," with Kyle Rossiter going in on Ross Lupaschuk’s left side to provide the Penguins’ back line with a bit of a different look.

Binghamton had a lineup change of its own, which was a huge loss for the Senators. Denis Hamel left Friday’s game with what appeared to be a knee injury. Hamel participated in the Senators’ morning skate on Saturday but was not able to go for Game 2.

Stephens welcomed Chiodo on the Senators’ second shot 1:44 into the game. Stephens’ second goal in the series’ two games was a pretty one, with the big winger snapping a shot on his off-wing from the left circle over Chiodo’s left shoulder.

For all the chatter surrounding the series that focused on the Senators’ marked skill advantage, the Penguins dominated the second period and beat the Senators in all facets of the game.

Referee Bob Langdon handed the Penguins four minutes of power-play time early in the second. They managed to squander away two minutes of the man-advantage, courtesy of a Lupaschuk minor.

The Penguins’ good fortunes continued during a delayed call on Guillaume Lefebvre, who wisely engaged a scrum of Senators after the whistle blew. Things settled down with Binghamton losing top-four backliner Andy Hedlund to a spearing major and a game misconduct and three more minutes of power play time.

Beech solved Emery at 10:50 and tied the game at 1-1. Emery takes up a lot of space in net, but Beech managed to sneak a shot through the bit of space that Emery allowed.

For the period, the Penguins’ troubled power play had 5:19 of time a man up with which to work.