Sens vs. Moose 3/24/04 Articles: Sloppy Sens fall flat; Paddock sticks by call to start Emery in goal
March 25, 2004

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

Sloppy Sens fall flat

Paddock sticks by call to start Emery in goal

BY SCOTT LAUBER

Press & Sun-Bulletin

BINGHAMTON -- You don't get to the brink of 500 career coaching victories without sticking to a few convictions, so John Paddock stuck with the goalie he knows to be his best, if not his hottest.

And Ray Emery nearly made him look like a genius.

Despite a grueling travel schedule caused by two call-ups in seven days, Emery started here Wednesday night and safeguarded a one-goal lead through two periods before his Binghamton Senators teammates staged an all-out collapse in a devastating 4-1 defeat to the desperate Manitoba Moose.

"Ray did play well, and we couldn't ask for anything more from him," center Serge Payer said after Emery made 44 saves but the Senators tied a franchise record by allowing four third-period goals in the kind of loss that comes back to haunt teams fighting for a playoff spot. "We let him down."

Not as much as they let themselves down. Carelessness with the puck, a gross inability to win face-offs and ill-timed penalties doomed the Senators in a game they should've won against the only sub-.500 team left on their schedule.

The loss, along with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton's 4-3 overtime victory over Manchester, dropped the Senators three points out of their stated objective of third place and left them tied with idle Norfolk for the fifth and final East Division playoff berth.

"That was totally unacceptable for everyone in the room to let a one-goal lead in our own building go like that," said winger Brad Tapper, the only Senator to score against Moose rookie goalie Rob McVicar. "Razor (Emery) played one heck of a game. We took some penalties when we shouldn't have. We made too many mistakes in our own end and it cost us."

Manitoba played with all the urgency of a team that must win each of its remaining games to have a shot at the postseason in the AHL's North Division. The Moose peppered Emery with 33 shots through two periods, out-gunning the Senators 20-7 in the second.

But despite getting into town too late to attend the morning skate after backing up Ottawa's Patrick Lalime in Boston on Tuesday night, Emery's positioning was impeccable, his reflexes sharp. And if there was any doubt Paddock made the right decision by starting him over red-hot backup Billy Thompson, it was erased after Emery robbed Jimmy Roy with a pad stack in the second period.

"As long as he was going to be back, I was going to play him," Paddock said of Emery. "It sounds like a knock on Billy when I say Ray's our guy, but we've seen how good Billy can be. Regardless, (Emery) has to play to get into a rhythm for us down the stretch."

Tapper scored on a perfectly executed two-on-one with Denis Hamel at 15:19 of the first period, but after that, the Moose controlled the game. And if it seemed like a matter of time before a puck would slip by Emery, it was.

With defenseman Christoph Schubert serving a tripping penalty, Manitoba center Justin Morrison set a screen in front of Emery and Peter Sarno ripped a shot from the blue line at 4:47 of the third period that tied the score.

It stayed that way until 5:56 remained when Jason King beat Emery with a shot to the blocker side off a face-off win by Reid, and after the Senators knocked the net off its pegs 37 seconds later, Reid put a sweet forehand-to-backhand-to-forehand move on Emery to score on the first penalty shot against the Senators in franchise history.

Game, set, match.

"We had three or four average players and a lot of poor players," Paddock said. "From the second period on, I think we were not playing at all to compete with them."

* Slap shots: Rugged winger Brian McGrattan didn't play after suffering a concussion in practice. ... The Senators signed 21-year-old center Gregg Johnson to an amateur tryout contract and he made his pro debut on the fourth line. Johnson scored 14 goals and 33 assists in 125 games over four seasons at Boston University. ... One reason Ottawa hasn't sent winger Antoine Vermette to the minors is the NHL's recall rule. After the trade deadline, teams are allowed four "free" recalls, and Ottawa already spent two on paper transfers so that Vermette and Josh Langfeld could be included on Binghamton's playoff roster. If Vermette, a healthy scratch in three straight games, was sent down, it's unlikely he'd be recalled because Ottawa would have just one free move left.