Sens vs. Phantoms 4/4/04 Articles: B-Sens stun Philly with overtime goal; Binghamton picks up crucial points
April 5, 2004

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

B-Sens stun Philly with overtime goal

Binghamton picks up crucial points

BY SCOTT LAUBER

Press & Sun-Bulletin

PHILADELPHIA -- Never mind that the Binghamton Senators were down by two goals against the first-place Philadelphia Phantoms. Or that they had not won a game all season when trailing after two periods. Or that their top scorer was sitting in the press box, his face swollen even more than the odds were stacked against them.

Mike Busniuk believed.

And after the Senators had rallied to force overtime here Sunday night, Busniuk, their assistant coach, tapped the shoulders of defensemen Julien Vauclair and Peter Smrek and predicted what was about to happen.

"Buzzy said, 'Peter, Jules, you're up next, and you are the winning combo,' " said Vauclair, whose goal with 1:09 left gave the Senators a stirring 3-2 victory and moved them closer to clinching a playoff spot in the AHL's East Division.

It was Smrek who started the Senators' game-winning rush, and after some nifty passing between wingers Cory Pecker and Brad Tapper, Vauclair finished it by one-timing Tapper's feed behind Phantoms goalie Antero Niittymaki.

Just like Busniuk said they would.

With the win, the Senators moved one point ahead of Norfolk and into fourth place in the division, which would give them home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs. They also stayed four points ahead of sixth-place Hershey, and with three regular-season games left, any combination of three points gained by Binghamton or lost by Hershey will put the Senators in the playoffs.

"I haven't been here all season," said Pecker, acquired from Cincinnati last month, "but I can only imagine this is our biggest win of the year."

Considering the circumstances, it was.

Battling to make the playoffs and skating in their third road game in fewer than 72 hours, the Senators needed to win because Hershey had defeated Springfield, 3-1, earlier in the day.

It wasn't looking good after First Team AHL All-Star winger Denis Hamel took a puck to the face 6:55 into the game and had to be taken from the ice on a stretcher or after Kirby Law and Kirk Furey scored first-period goals to give the Phantoms a 2-0 advantage.

But two-time AHL all-star goalie Ray Emery, who arrived here about five hours prior to the game after being sent down from Ottawa, stopped the last 25 shots he saw and was strong as ever after allowing three goals on eight shots Saturday night in relief of Martin Prusek in Ottawa's 6-0 loss to Toronto.

"Our best player was our best player," coach John Paddock said of Emery, somehow snubbed as one of the game's three stars after stopping 39 of 41 shots.

After killing a two-minute five-on-three Phantoms power play midway through the second period, the Senators cut the deficit to 2-1 when Tapper crashed the net and stuffed the rebound of center Charlie Stephens' shot under Niittymaki.

"If there was a turning point, you could say that was probably it," Paddock said.

But the Senators couldn't score on a 62-second five-on-three late in the second and entered the third period trailing, a situation which had produced an 0-26-2 record for them this season.

That number meant nothing to Pecker, who one-timed a pass from Tapper on the power play 25 seconds into the third to forge a 2-2 tie, and Emery stopped 10 third-period Phantoms shots to force overtime.

Vauclair's goal avenged last Saturday night's 1-0 overtime loss to the Phantoms in Binghamton, but more importantly, got the Senators their fourth of a possible six points in a weekend that was critical to their chances of making the playoffs.

"Given the time of the year and the situation we're in, it's probably our biggest win up to this point," center Serge Payer said. "But the present tense is always the biggest. We like where we stand, especially after (Saturday night's) loss (in Norfolk), but we still have a lot of work to do."

* Slap shots: Winger/assistant coach Jody Hull missed his third straight game with what the team is calling a "lower body injury." Just-signed defenseman Neil Komadoski was out with the flu, and defenseman Christoph Schubert, rookie wingers Greg Watson and Derek Campbell and goalie Andrew Allen were healthy scratches. ... Even with the Phillies wrapping up their spring-training schedule across the parking lot at brand new Citizen's Bank Park and an Arena Football League game being played at the Wachovia Center, the Phantoms attracted a crowd of 10,951 on Fan Appreciation Night.