Sens vs. Penguins 4/25/05 Articles: OT win feels like last year
April 27, 2005

Posted by: Bob Howard
Credit: Donnie Collins of Scranton Times

OT win feels like last year

By Donnie Collins 04/26/2005

Nobody can dispute the Penguins were a desperate team.

If they weren't, they wouldn't have been in an epic like this. They probably wouldn't have saved their season, either.

They were playing Binghamton, a team that scored 18 more goals than any other team in the AHL during the regular season. They were down 2-0 in a best-of-seven playoff against a team that, by the count of many, has four, maybe five players who would be in the NHL if there were such a thing this season.

Penguins' backs, meet the wall.

That's where it stood deep into the night - what could have been the Penguins' sunset game ended closer to sunrise - deep into the third overtime before scrappy center Colby Armstrong directed a cross-ice pass from Kris Beech past Senators goalie Ray Emery.

Penguins win, 3-2.

"It's such a long game," Armstrong said of his game-winner, "and it happened so quick."

Just like that. Snap of a finger. The difference between hope and hopelessness.

They still trail the series 2-1. But they're still breathing.

Thanks to Andy Chiodo, whose playoff magic show apparently is playing for a second year at the Wachovia Arena. The goalie who turned 22 last night saved 42 shots and didn't allow a Binghamton goal in the last 77:15 of the game.

His mates left him plenty of time to celebrate his birthday. Armstrong's goal found the back of the net at 11:59 p.m.

The Penguins won because of Chiodo's network and Armstrong's goal. They had a chance because of the desperation five players displayed for one minute, 22 seconds in the second period.

Guillaume Lefebvre already had a spot in the penalty box, and Colby Armstrong was walking in the door to join him.

The Penguins faced a 5-on-3 in a game tied 1-1, facing a scary-good power play. Escaping this predicament allowing only one goal would have to have been considered acceptable.

Desperation is a funny thing. It can be a team's undoing, or its lifeblood.

Nobody would be talking about those 82 seconds if the Penguins didn't kill off that 5-on-3. Alain Nasreddine and Rob Scuderi split time on the ice during that time. Endicott and Matt Murley were on it every nerve-wracking second.

Chiodo needed to make just one challenging save during that Binghamton power play. Senators forward Josh Langfeld buried a point-blank shot into Chiodo's midsection. During the entire power play, Binghamton managed a mere two shots.

As it stood on a night that didn't seem like it would ever end, that was the best chance to score. By far. The difference between 3-0 Binghamton and 2-1.

Maybe it was the white shirts filling more than 6,100 seats at the Wachovia Arena.

Or the familiar, staccato chant: "An-dy. An-dy. An-dy" that washed over Casey Plaza.

Or the way the people's goaltender seemed to invent ways to stop Senators' shots.

It just seemed like last season again. Like something big could happen. The Penguins' bitter refusal to lose, it seemed, outlasted their opponent's ability to put them away for good.

"It was a test of our commitment to the process," Chiodo said. "It was just a test of will."

And a testament to desperation used well.