Wild Finish In Binghamton Senators OT Win Over Phantoms

Defenseman Aaron Johnson scored the game winner with 10.5 seconds left in overtime to give the Binghamton Senators a 4-3 win over the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in what was a wild finish with a combined three goals scored in the final four minutes of regulation. The Senators never led in this one but fought hard in the emotional come-back win.

GAME RECAP

Phantoms’ Zack Stortini puts Lehigh Valley in front 1-0 just 1:29 in shooting the rebound up and over Scott Greenham’s right pad and into the back of the net as Jason Akeson‘s shot from the point was stopped by Greenham, but the puck hit Nick Cousins in front and bounced towards Stortini’s way for the goal. Garrett Thompson misses a wide open net shooting far side of the cage as that should’ve easily been a goal.

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Lehigh Valley gets another one with Brandon Manning‘s floater from the point glances off of Petr Straka‘s stick waist-high and in past Greenham. Straka’s re-direct is his 12th of the year putting them ahead 2-0. Period comes to a close with each team having a series of minors called in the last three minutes, but results remain the same. Shots end up 16-11 Binghamton.

In the second period, Chris Wideman’s one-timer is re-directed in front by Thompson for his fifth goal of the season putting the Senators on the board and cutting the lead to one as Wideman took the pass from Max McCormick in the corner. Brad Mills heavy open ice hit sending Cousins to the ice, draws the ire from Phantoms’ Adam Comrie as the two don’t fight but are each called for roughing afterwards. Bighamton with the jump in the middle frame but are held back by the hot play from goaltender Anthony Stolarz.

Senators continue to push into the third when Thompson finds Darren Kramer in front and shoots high beating Stolarz up close to tie up the game at two apiece. Then a minute later, Stortini sets himself in front of Greenham and does his job in screening the netminder with Akeson’s shot from up high in the slot sails through to regain the lead for Lehigh Valley.

With time ticking down and Binghamton with all sorts of pressure, scores with Alex Grant shooting on net gets deflected in the crease off of Colin Greening with 43.3 seconds left and the Senators appear to be heading to overtime but not before Greenham’s huge pad save in front on Akeson with two seconds left.

With both teams having exciting plays for nearly the full seven minutes of overtime, it finally gives way to the Senators. With 10.5 seconds left, Derek Grant passes from the wall to Johnson and he sets up with a blistering slapper from the slot that rings off the far post and in for the game winner. Awesome slapper. Shots end up 44-36, Binghamton.

NOTES & OBSERVATIONS

• Greenham with 33 saves played well despite letting in several goals on either re-directs or scrambles in the blue paint that otherwise couldn’t be blamed.
• Thompson finished with a goal and an assist on four shots with a +2 in a nice bounce back game from a previous healthy scratch as he was selected as third star.
• No JGP for this one as he was called up to Ottawa and played in tonight’s game vs Montreal along with Shane Prince.
• Not a lot of fights tonight other than Guillaume Lepine dropped the gloves off the face off with Oliver Lauridsen in the 2nd with each landing some punches as it looked to be a draw.
• Binghamton never led in this one but they were on a mission that was packed with emotional energy throughout. Great to see the team come together and still playing hard despite what the standings show.
• Nice to have McCormick back after missing the last 5 games as he centered the fourth line. He had an assist on Thompson’s second period goal while bringing energy to the team with his hard skating in his return.
• 3 wins in a row for the Senators against the Phantoms covering the month of Feb with one remaining on the 28th.

B-SENS LINES

Forwards – Puempel-Camper-Schneider, Greening-D Grant-Mills, Guptill-Dzingel-Robinson, Kramer-McCormick-Thompson

Defense – Claesson-A Grant, Johnson-Tuzzolino, Lepine-Wideman

Out – Mike Sdao, Patrick Mullen and David Dziurzynski, all injured. Nick Tuzzolino,  healthy.

UP NEXT

Senators host a home game for the first time in two weeks on Friday vs. the Hershey Bears.