Sens vs. Penguins 4/7/04 Articles: B-Sens inch closer to playoff berth; Payer's late goal ties Penguins
April 8, 2004

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

B-Sens inch closer to playoff berth

Payer's late goal ties Penguins

BY SCOTT LAUBER

Press & Sun-Bulletin

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. -- Nothing has come easy to the Binghamton Senators this season, so why should clinching a spot in the Calder Cup playoffs be any different.

Needing a victory Wednesday night to secure their place in the AHL's postseason tournament, the Senators were forced to play without their top two forwards, Denis Hamel and Brad Tapper, against a Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins team with a loaded lineup courtesy of its NHL parent in Pittsburgh.

The result? A come-from-behind 2-2 tie that netted the Senators one huge standings point but left open the possibility that the Norfolk Admirals and/or the Hershey Bears can sneak up from behind in the next four days and send them into an early off-season.

"Taking out two of our top scorers on the team, that's tough, because the guys we're putting in are going to give effort but probably aren't going to score," B-Sens coach John Paddock said. "That's a good team we were playing. Would you rather have two points? Sure, but every point you get this time of year is a big point."

To get it, the Senators needed a big game from all-star goalie Ray Emery, whose margin for error was even slimmer than usual with the injured Hamel (facial lacerations) and suspended Tapper absent. And Emery responded with 35 saves, including a show-stopping glove swat of Kris Beech's second-period bid.

For offense, they got power-play goals from center Charlie Stephens with 45.2 seconds left in the first period and center Serge Payer with 2:05 left in regulation after Penguins agitator Marquis Mathieu took a four-minute penalty for using the butt-end of his stick to hit a Senators player.

"I knew I had an opening, and I just wanted to hit the net," Payer said after he ripped a shot over goalie Sebastien Caron, one of four players sent down this week from Pittsburgh to fortify Wilkes-Barre/Scranton's lineup for the playoffs. "I practice that move, but I don't think I have scored a pro goal with it yet. Good timing, I guess."

Timing is everything right now for the Senators, who can no longer catch the Penguins for third place and will have to play in the best-of-three qualifying series required of fourth- and fifth-place finishers. If they can hold off Norfolk and Hershey, they will have home-ice advantage throughout that series.

Paddock said Tapper and Hamel will be in the lineup Friday night when Norfolk visits the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena in what has to be considered the season's biggest game. Hershey's 4-2 victory in Albany kept the Bears' playoff hopes alive, but the Senators can still clinch with a victory Friday night or in the regular-season finale Saturday night against Rochester.

"It's going to be tight," Stephens said. "Hershey is still alive, and we've got Norfolk right on our tail. But we're still really optimistic. We can control our own destiny by doing well in the last two games."

All the pre-game buzz here centered around the Penguins' roster reinforcements. Pittsburgh didn't qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs, so Caron, rugged defenseman Brooks Orpik, speedy winger Konstantin Koltsov and veteran AHL winger Tom Kostopoulos were sent to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton for the rest of the season.

They arrived just in time to face the Senators, who learned they would not have Tapper's services due to a one-game suspension for running a Norfolk player late in the first period of Saturday night's 3-1 loss.

The suspension caught Paddock by surprise, considering Tapper has been a target of high hits by several teams since he missed almost all of February with a concussion, and his actions Saturday night came, according to the Senators, in self-defense.

"I was very surprised, to be honest, because he's been nothing but abused since he came back," Paddock said. "The league is not protecting him. That's very clear."