Sens vs. River Rats 3/19/04 Preview: Sens and Rats tenth & final game; Sens fighting for playoff spot
March 19, 2004

Posted by: Bob Howard
Credit: Binghamton Hockey.net

The Binghamton Senators and the Albany River Rats face off tonight at 7:05 for the tenth and final time this year at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena. The Sens and the Rats have played each other nine times so far with Binghamton scoring five victories, Albany gaining the win in three of the match-ups so far and the teams settling for one tie. The teams faced each other eight times last year with Binghamton shutting out the Rats with six wins and the two teams tie-ing one another twice.

The big story of game before the game starts will be the starting goal tender position for the Binghamton Senators. Yesterday All-Star goal tender Ray Emery was re-called to Ottawa to back-up Patrick Lalime on an emergency re-call. Lalime scored a 2-0 shut out victory over the Colorado Avalanche and earned number one star of the game. The Ottawa Senators do not play tonight and could send back Emery to Binghamton for tonight's game. Many expect back-up Billy Thompson to get the start tonight vs. the River Rats but the decision is expected to be a game-time decision with even some reports now indicating that Emery will goal tend tonight.

The Rats and the Sens last faced each other in the capital district of New York this past Sunday, March 14th in the Pepsi Arena. In what was a flurry of goal scoring in the 1st period slowed down to almost nothing after the second period got under way. In the first period both teams scored three teams with goals from Albany teammates Tuomas Pihlamn, Joe Hulbig & Ilkka Pikkarainen and then Binghamton teammates Julien Vauclair, Denis Hamel & Greg Watson. Scoring slowed down in the second period as both teams just each scored once. Albany top goal scorer and point getter Craig Darby sent the teams fourth and final goal past Ray Emery at the 8:49 mark with teammates Joe Hulbig and Steve Kariya assisting on the goal. Binghamton's d-man Julien Vauclair had a career high four point (1+3) night vs. Albany helping on Charlie Stephens 2nd period goal for his second assist and then gaining his third assist on the game winning goal in the over time period. On loan from the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks, Corey Pecker took a pass from Vauclair and fed it perfectly to Peter Smrek who shot it past Albany goal tender Matus Kostur for the game winner at the 1:43 mark of over time. This marked the first game back for suspended goal tender Ray Emery who saved 30 of 34 shots in the 5-4 over time win vs. the Albany River Rats.

The Senators in their last six games are now 4-1-1 with the tie. The Senators last game was vs. the Albany River Rats (5-4 OT) last Sunday, with the night before they skated to a tie with Wilkes-Barre (4-4), a loss to Rochester (5-3) on Friday, beating Rochester (1-0) in Binghamton last Wednesday, skating passed Bridgeport (4-3) two Sundays ago and beating Rochester (3-1) two Friday's ago.

Albany lost to Binghamton (5-4 OT) last Sunday and then fell to Manitoba (3-0) on Tuesday. They have lost six games before those two earning just one point after taking Syracuse (4-3) to over time but losing the game. The other five losses are Providence (4-0), Syracuse (5-2), twice to Philadelphia (5-3 & 6-1) and to the Norfolk Admirals (4-1).

Tonight's game is the beginning of three straight contests at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena starting with the Albany River Rats tonight to end the ten game season series. The Senators will then face the Bridgeport Sound Tigers for the last time of the season on Saturday and then they will end the mini home stance vs. Manitoba on Wednesday before going on the road to Syracuse on March 26th.

Albany after tonight's game will host Bridgeport on March 21st before having 6 days off and heading to Wilkes-Barre to face the Penguins. Sunday the 28th, the Rats will host the Hershey Bears before going onto a four game road trip starting in Hartford, sending them to Wilkes-Barre, Lowell and then Bridgeport before the last three games of the season all in the Pepsi Arena.

Denis Hamel leads the Senators in all three categories with 60 (26+34) points. Ray Emery (19-19-5) returned to the Binghamton line up vs. the Rats last Sunday and earned his 19th win on the season in the 5-4 OT win. Emery has 2.48 goals against average and a .921 save percentage on the season. Back up, Billy Thompson has a record of 11-13-2 with 2 shut outs on the season. Thompson has a 3.03 goals against average and a .901 save percentage playing in 31 games in his rookie season.

Veteran center, Craig Darby leads the team with 58 (21+37) points as the Rat's center leads the team in all scoring categories. Taking the brunt of many of the River Rats losses this year is Ari Ahonen who is 11-24-6 this year with two shut outs on the season. Ahonen has a 2.92 goals against average and a .903 save percentage on the season.

The Albany River Rats (16-33-11-9 52 points) at this point in the season are playing for pride with their playoff chances slipping further and further away with each loss. The Rats stand 17 points out of sixth place and 19 points out of the final playoff spot currently held by the Hershey Bears (29-29-8-4 70 points). The Binghamton Senators (30-30-7-2 69 points) are two points the Bears with one less game played then Hershey as the two teams fight for the the final play off spot in the East. Both teams still have a chance to jump in the East standings with Norfolk (31-29-4-5 71 points) only one point ahead of Hershey and Wilkes-Barre (30-26-8-5 73 points) only three points ahead of the Bears.

After tonight's Senators/River Rats game come back to Binghamton Hockey.net for an updated East Division standings and a Senators/River Rats boxscore and articles about the game.

Plus if you haven't all ready, go over and join the chat in Binghamton Hockey.net's message boards, Bingo Talk. Even if you’re a fan of another team, your welcome to join the chat about American League Hockey, the NHL, the Binghamton Senators or anything you want.

Remember, Binghamton Hockey.net is your only complete Hockey source for the Binghamton Senators or Binghamton Hockey. Read articles from the Sens website, the Press & Sun plus any other Binghamton Hockey article posted on the web, right here on Binghamton Hockey.net.