Sens vs. Moose 10/30/2004 Articles: Moose ice Paddock's first shot at 500th victory
October 31, 2004

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

Moose ice Paddock's first shot at 500th victory

Manitoba tops B-Sens with special teams play

BY SCOTT LAUBER

Press & Sun-Bulletin

BINGHAMTON -- On the precipice of his 500th victory as an American Hockey League coach, John Paddock was smiling and joking with reporters Saturday morning when center Jason Spezza emerged from the Binghamton Senators' dressing room.

"Don't live on one game," Paddock advised his star pupil, alluding to Spezza's four-point outburst Friday night.

Spezza and the Senators played well for stretches Saturday night against the Manitoba Moose in a game dominated by special teams. But the high-powered Moose scored four power-play goals, won a 5-3 slugfest and forced the Senators' co-coach to wait at least another day for No. 500.

"We had so many reasons to win," defenseman Andy Hedlund said. "Everybody put money on the board for John, and we wanted to get it for him here. The guys that were here last year still think we broke his streak of (nine straight) 40-win seasons. He probably should've had 500 last year.

"The good news is at least we don't have to wait a whole week before we play again. We'll go out (today) and try to get it for him again."

But before the Senators think about today's 3:05 matinee at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, they were contemplating the 14 combined power plays awarded by referee Gord Dwyer, who drew the ire of the announced 3,989 at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena.

The Senators scored on two of their six opportunities, but Manitoba, which is averaging 3.9 goals per game and has 14 power-play goals in eight games, converted four of its eight. The game's first six goals were scored on the power play.

"That's tough to beat when you get 50 percent on the power play," Hedlund said. "We need to do a better job (killing penalties) than that."

Playing without two of their transplanted NHLers -- winger Josh Langfeld and defenseman Anton Volchenkov, who were injured Friday night against Norfolk -- the Senators took a 2-1 lead on back-to-back power-play point shots by Brian Pothier and Hedlund early in the second period.

But with Senators defenseman Jesse Fibiger serving a slashing penalty, the Moose tied it on a Peter Sarno-to-Jason King passing play at 14:28 and took the lead when King reciprocated by setting up Sarno for a shot over goalie Billy Thompson's glove 44 seconds later.

Ryan Kesler's power-play goal at 1:35 of the third period opened a 4-2 Manitoba lead, and after Senators rookie defenseman Neil Komadoski netted his first professional goal on an even-strength point shot through a screen at 3:59, Josh Green closed the scoring with a five-on-five goal at 5:26.

"I thought we were too passive in our own end (on the penalty kill)," coach Dave Cameron said. "Hopefully, we'll be able to do a little better job of it."

Cameron said he's hopeful Langfeld will play today in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton but ruled out Volchenkov, who appeared to injure his shoulder on an open-ice hit by Norfolk's Travis Moen late in the third period Friday night. Cameron wouldn't disclose details of either injury.

SPEAKING HIS MIND

Pothier made headlines in Canada -- and perhaps waves with the NHL Players' Association -- with his comments this week to an Ottawa radio station about the lockout.

"I'm in Binghamton playing because I need to pay the bills," he told The Team 1200. "The guys who are making the decisions (for the union) are making big money. They can take three, four, five (years) or the rest of their lives off, and they don't have to work again.

"I asked (union chief Bob Goodenow), what about a guy like me who has only a short window of opportunity or a guy like Josh Langfeld. This isn't about one guy. It's about the collective. This isn't just about now. It's about 10 years down the road and how it affects them."

The lockout comes at an inopportune time for players like Pothier, who is 27 years old and coming off his first full season with Ottawa. He would earn $625,000 in the NHL this year and is making $75,000 in the minors.