Hoffman Buries It In OT To Beat Bridgeport 6-5
By Jeff Ulmer
The Senators didn’t arrive in Brideport, Conn. until four in the morning after the long bus ride but prepared themselves for the 3:00 faceoff and made the most of it by scoring three straight pp goals in the first leading them to a 6-5 OT win. Binghamton would end up going four for four on the pp as Andrew Hammond gets his first pro win in net. At times it wasn’t pretty, but a tired Sens team will have a happy bus ride home.
GAME RE-CAP
-1st period
All Sens as they have the jump on Bridgeport early on. Troy Rutkowski scored on the pp at 5:35 from the top of the right circle that beat ‘Port Anders Nilsson. The assists comes from Shane Prince and Stephane Da Costa. The B-Sens get another pp and at 6:12 they score from a blast from Mika Zibjanebad, his second of the season, near the same spot as Rutkowski’s goal. Bridgeport playing on their heels as they again find themselves in the box and again the same results, as Bingo scores at 13:02 from Mike Hoffman’s hard wrister from the circle, his third of the season. That chases out Nilsson and in comes Kenny Reiter as Sens score three goals on seven shots. Sound Tigers get on the board at 17:13 from Ryan Strome, as he picked up the rebound from Andrey Pedan‘s slapshot to beat Hammond cleanly to cut the lead to 3-1. Defense looked sloppy and didn’t pick up the man alone in the crease. Shots are 13-9 Binghamton.
-2nd period
Bridgeport playing better and scores as John Persson was alone in front by a pass from Johan Sundstrum making it a 3-2 game at 19:00. Anders Lee also with an assist. Both teams getting their chances but the Sound Tigers are playing better. Buddy Robinson looks good on the first line with Hoffman and Mika as well as Da Costa and Prince working well together. The Sens are getting their chances towards the end of the period but no luck. Jim O’Brien picked up two minors as the only penalties called in the second. Shots are 19-18 ‘Port as they out shoot the Sens 10-5 in the period.
-3rd period
With O’Brien serving his third minor of the afternoon, the Sound Tigers would tie up the game at 2:44 as Sundstrum found Persson open in the slot and scoring for his second of the game. A little more than a minute later Prince got the jump on the puck and fed a streaking Cole Schneider wide open on the side as Cole deked Reiter to take back the momentum for a 4-3 lead. Matt Puempel then received a double minor for high sticking but Scheider had a two on one with Robinson and scored blocker side for the shorthanded goal at 7:59. Schneider has a history of scoring in pairs and nets two in the period.
Things would start to swing back in favor of Bridgeport as Mike Halmo received a nice pass from Persson and beat Hammond with a backhander at 10:09 to make it a 5-4 contest. More than a minute later Sundstrum would tie things up with his second of the game as he was all alone in the crease and scores. Defense was flat on their feet and that didn’t help Andrew out. Shots are 32-25 ‘Port.
-OverTime
Four on four hockey until the 3:58 mark saw Bridgeport called for a hook on Prince that put the Sens on the pp. Bingo sends out Zibanejad, Da Costa, Hoffman and Ceci and the results were immediate. Eighteen seconds later Zibby took a shot from the left circle that Reiter made but the rebound found an open Hoffman on the right side of the net as he buried it home for the game winner at 4:16. That would be Hoffman’s second of the game as the celebration was low-key as the Sens had to be exhausted from the long, but successful weekend. Total shots 34-27 in favor of Bridgeport.
NOTES
– Bingo still can’t stay out of the box with seven consecutive minors called today.
– Rutkowski scores his first professional goal in the first.
– Hammond has allowed ten goals in four periods of play plus the OT this season.
– Jakub Culek made his season debut and shared centre duties with Wacey Hamilton on the fourth line.
– All in all a sloppy game by both clubs but the Sens will be happy with the two points. They take four out of six points from the weekend and keep pace in the East with eight points.
3 STARS OF THE GAME
#1 Persson (2g 1a)
#2 Schneider (2g)
#3 Hoffman (2g 1a)
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HIGHLIGHTS
Next Game: Friday Night @ Home vs. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins