Senators Articles: Rent-a-player helps B-Sens in race for a playoff spot; Binghamton trails Hershey by 1 point
March 19, 2004

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

Rent-a-player helps B-Sens in race for a playoff spot

Binghamton trails Hershey by 1 point

BY SCOTT LAUBER

Press & Sun-Bulletin

BINGHAMTON -- Cory Pecker doesn't look at all out of place here, which is strange considering he is very much an outsider in the Binghamton Senators' family.

"I understand I'm not in Ottawa's organization," Pecker, a winger loaned last week to Binghamton by the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks, said Sunday night after setting up Peter Smrek's overtime goal in a 5-4 victory in Albany, "but I'm as into (the playoff race) as anybody else."

And even though he's still being paid by Anaheim, not Ottawa, and he'll stay under contract to the Ducks next season, Pecker is as committed as anyone to getting the Senators' AHL club into the playoffs, where the payoff is a chance to win the Calder Cup.

He's the ultimate rent-a-player, a Senator for 11 more regular-season games starting tonight in his home debut against Albany and however many follow should Binghamton make the playoffs. But don't tell that to Pecker, who has already sacrificed his body and seems willing to put his entire soul into improving his new -- and soon-to-be old -- team.

"There are a lot of young guys there (in Cincinnati), and I just felt like I wasn't getting the ice time I could have gotten if I was on the top two lines," Pecker said by way of explaining how a 21-year-old who scored 20 goals as a rookie last season had just six this season before being loaned to another organization in the midst of a heated playoff race.

"But I'm still part of that organization. I'm still property of Anaheim, and I'm here to show Anaheim, and Ottawa, that I can still do some good things."

One thing Pecker has shown is he's willing to do anything for a scoring chance, including running over a goalie. Just 3:45 into his Senators debut last Friday night in Rochester, Pecker steamrolled goalie Ryan Miller, drawing a major penalty and a game misconduct.

So maybe Pecker was a little overzealous. But one night later in Wilkes-Barre, he set up Julien Vauclair for a goal with a blind, backhanded pass while being hauled down behind the net.

Then, last Sunday, he dropped a pass for the trailing Smrek to blast behind Albany goalie Matus Kostur to draw the Senators within a point of Hershey for the final, elusive East Division playoff spot. That play came after he'd worked the goal line and slid a pinpoint feed to Denis Hamel for a five-on-three power-play goal.

Described by Senators goalie Ray Emery, his former junior teammate, as a "pure goal scorer," Pecker looked more like a playmaker in the mold of center Bob Wren, who Binghamton received on loan last season just in time to make a six-week run all the way to the conference finals.

"He's got (good) hands and really good offensive instincts," coach John Paddock said of Pecker. "You can see why he was able to score 20 goals last year. Not everybody can make plays like that. You can tell people how to do it, but not too many guys can execute like that."

The ice time Pecker wasn't receiving in Cincinnati will almost certainly be doled out to him here, especially after Ottawa threw winger Alexandre Giroux into last week's trade deadline deal with the New York Rangers for NHL defenseman Greg de Vries.

With Giroux and impressive rookie Brooks Laich both traded away, captain Chris Kelly out with a broken left kneecap and no guarantee that Ottawa will send high-scoring winger Antoine Vermette or power forward Josh Langfeld back to the minors, Pecker becomes a key piece of Binghamton's top two lines and its power-play unit.

Ideally, Pecker and the Senators will help each other. If Pecker keeps dishing out assists (he has three in three games) and scores a few clutch goals, the Senators reach the postseason and the Ducks, who will be monitoring Pecker's progress, find a more important role for him in Cincinnati or even Anaheim.

"When you join a new team, you get thrown right into the mix," Pecker said. "I spoke to (Paddock) before I came here, and he told me I'm going to be used a lot here. I know Kelly will be back soon and maybe there will be some other moves, but I'm here to get some ice time and hopefully help in any way I can."