Sens vs. Monarchs 1/23/04 Articles: B-Sens' burned by mistakes; Poor third period sinks Binghamton
February 24, 2004

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

B-Sens' burned by mistakes

Poor third period sinks Binghamton

BY SCOTT LAUBER

Press & Sun-Bulletin

MANCHESTER, N.H. -- The margin for error in the AHL lately is like New Hampshire's state tax, which is to say, zero. It doesn't exist, and mistakes of any kind can spell a team's undoing.

And so it was Monday night that the Binghamton Senators came here, to a state where all license plates resolutely declare "Live Free Or Die," and committed two fatal third-period errors in a hard-to-swallow 2-0 loss to the Manchester Monarchs before 7,623 at Verizon Wireless Arena.

"That was a terrible way to lose," coach John Paddock said after the fifth-place Senators failed for the second straight night to win games that would have helped them close the gap on Hershey and Norfolk, the teams directly ahead of them in the East Division.

Senators goalie Ray Emery wasn't at fault. He turned aside 14 first-period shots while his teammates tied a franchise-mark for fewest shots in a period with two. Thanks to Emery alone, the Senators withstood an onslaught that included Yanick Lehoux's breakaway and a Pavel Rosa blast that struck Emery in the mask.

When the Monarchs finally beat him, at 7:26 of the third period, it was because Jeff Giuliano was allowed to camp in front of the net long enough to dump the rebound of Sam Ftorek's shot behind the sprawling goalie.

And when they solved him again, with 8:49 left, it was due to a Senators' turnover along the right-wing boards, giving Rosa a passing lane to Noah Clarke in the slot for a rocket that opened a commanding two-goal lead.

"He kept bailing us out," defenseman Steve Bancroft said of Emery, called up to Ottawa after the game for what Paddock thinks will be a one-game NHL back-up stint. "One giveaway cost us the game."

The start of the third period was delayed for 25 minutes when the pipe that holds up the protective netting behind one goal snapped, causing the mesh to fall like New Hampshire's famed Old Man of the Mountain. Six sections of fans were made to relocate to seats not in the line of fire.

Losing here and Sunday night in Springfield places the Senators squarely in the crosshairs in the middle of their division and leaves the door ajar for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Wednesday night's opponent in Binghamton, to slide into fifth place and grab the final playoff spot.

"It always comes down to mistakes, but especially a game like that," defenseman Andy Hedlund said. "It seems lately we've been the team taking advantage of mistakes, but this time it happened to us."