Senators Articles: B-Sens face season's critical stage; Tough road games coming up
February 25, 2004

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

B-Sens face season's critical stage

Tough road games coming up

BY SCOTT LAUBER

Press & Sun-Bulletin

Considering how many of them are injured (four) or playing with Ottawa (three), the Binghamton Senators could have felt sorry for themselves Monday night as they trudged away from Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester, N.H., following their latest loss.

Except there isn't time for self-pity.

The Senators have no choice but to put back-to-back losses in Springfield, Mass., and Manchester behind them as they embark on the most important stretch of their season. Starting tonight against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, the Senators play five games in eight nights against the teams directly in front of and behind them in the AHL's East Division.

"Norfolk is ahead of us and they're playing great right now, and Wilkes-Barre's right behind us, so I think (the significance of these games) speaks for itself," defenseman Steve Bancroft said.

Looking at the standings should be motivation enough.

Two points separates the Senators from fourth-place Norfolk, which has won eight of its last 10 games. They're four points shy of third-place Hershey, and Binghamton has played three fewer games than both.

But sixth-place Wilkes-Barre/Scranton is looming ever larger in the Senators' rear-view mirror, only four points behind with three games in hand.

Only the top five teams will make the playoffs.

"It seems like every game now we're either playing a team we're chasing or we're playing one of our games in hand," defenseman Andy Hedlund said. "But this is definitely a big stretch for us."

The Senators expect to have all-star goalie Ray Emery when the Penguins visit at 7:05 tonight in the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena. Emery was recalled to back-up Ottawa starter Patrick Lalime in Montreal on Tuesday night, but the opinion was he'd be sent down tonight.

If he's not, the Senators will need a better performance from rookie backup Billy Thompson than they got Sunday in Springfield. Thompson has proven to be a capable AHL goalie, but he's just 3-5-0 with a 3.13 goals-against average when Emery has been injured or with Ottawa.

The bad news is four of these five games will be played on the road, where the Senators have been dreadful. They'll travel to Norfolk for games Friday and Saturday nights, Hershey on Sunday and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton next Wednesday.

The Senators are 8-14-4 away from home. They're winless in six road games, 2-6-3 in their last 11.

"You always say that to have a good road game you have to keep things simple," Bancroft said. "If you get a point on the road, usually everybody's happy. We've been getting no points on the road. That's something we're going to have to address."

There will be no better time for the Senators to do so.