by
Jeff Parzych
Ray Emery made 27 saves and Jason Spezza added a goal and an assist to lead the Binghamton Senators to a 4-2 win over the Syracuse Crunch in American Hockey League action Monday night.
Binghamton opened the scoring early in this one on a goal from rookie Brandon Bochenski. The first year sensation collected a pretty drop pass from all everything forward Jason Spezza and fired a wrist shot over the shoulder of Syracuse netminder Karl Goehring for his 12th of the season and a 1-0 Senator lead.
The Crunch almost evened things up late in the first, but Binghamton goaltender Ray Emery was up to the task to preserve Binghamton's one goal lead. Emery made the initial save on a drive from the point off the stick of Joe Motzko and then he denied Peter Ferraro's rebound attempt with a gorgeous sprawling save to keep the Crunch off the scoreboard.
Early in the second the Crunch received quite a gift when the Senators Brian Pothier was assessed a five-minute major for boarding, but like so many gifts this time of year, the Crunch returned it by surrendering two short handed goals.
Chris Kelly kicked off the shorthanded parade just 43 seconds into Pothier's major when he broke in alone on Goehring and beat him with a forehand offering. Josh Langfeld's 9th of the season at the 6:35 mark reestablished the Senators two-goal cushion and forced the Crunch to play catch-up once again.
Sandwiched in between Binghamton's two shorthanded tallies was a power play marker from defenseman Zenith Komarniski. His shot from the point slipped thru the pads of a screened Emery for his third goal of the season.
Mark Hartigan's power play goal late in the third brought the Crunch to within one, but Jason Spezza sealed things for Binghamton with an empty netter with 37 seconds left in regulation.
Ray Emery went the distance for the Sens, moving to 9-10-2 on the season. Karl Goehring dropped his fifth straight decision for the Crunch.
Crunch Ice Pack:
Date:December 27, 2004
Where:War Memorial at Oncenter
Opponent:Binghamton Senators
Attendance:6,020
Boxscore:
First Period-Scoring-1. Binghamton, Bochenski 12 (Spezza, Vermette), 8:23. Penalties-Potulny, Bin (hooking), 18:14.
Second Period-Scoring-2. Binghamton, Kelly 13 (unassisted), 1:27, (sh). 3. Syracuse, Komarniski 3 (Motzko, Mauldin), 2:05, (pp). 4. Binghamton, Langfeld 9 (Kavanagh), 6:35, (sh). Penalties-Pothier, Bin (major-boarding, game misconduct), :44; Spezza, Bin (roughing), 4:55; Ferraro, C, Syr (hooking), 7:14; Langfeld, Bin (cross-checking), 14:38; Sugden, Syr (roughing), 16:32; Hamel, Bin (goaltender interference), 19:44.
Third Period-Scoring-5. Syracuse, Hartigan 7 (P. Ferraro, Motzko), 14:35, (pp). 6. Binghamton, Spezza (unassisted), 19:23, (pp), (en). Penalties-Stephens, Bin (elbowing), 13:21; P. Ferraro, Syr (unsportsmanlike), 18:16.
Shots on Goal:Binghamton, 9-8-2--19; Syracuse, 11-13-5--29.
Power Play Opportunities:Binghamton, 1-3; Syracuse, 2-6.
Goalies-Binghamton, Emery (9-10-2), 29 shots-27 saves; Syracuse, Goehring (5-9-0), 19 shots-15 saves.
Referee-Bob Langdon (37); Linesman-Tim Kotyra (53), Derek Sylvester (76).
Three Stars: .
1. Ray Emery: Made more than a few highlight reel saves in strong performance.
2. Zenith Komarniski: Put the Crunch on the board in second period.
3. Josh Langfeld: Notched the eventual game-winner in second period.
Lineups:
Binghamton:Goal:Ray Emery, Billy Thompson. Defense: Neil Komadoski, Anton Volchenkov, Brian Pothier, Andy Hedlund, Jan Platil, Christoph Schubert, Jesse Fibiger. Forwards: Jason Spezza, Brandon Bochenski, Chris Kelly, Danny Bois, Denis Hamel, Pat Kavanagh, Brian McGrattan, Antoine Vermette, Josh Langfeld, Grant Potulny, Greg Watson, Arpad Mihaly, Charlie Stephens.
Syracuse:Goal:Karl Goehring, Pascal Leclaire, Andrew Penner.Defense: Zenith Komarniski, Andre Lakos, Jamie Pushor, Aaron Johnson, Prestin Ryan, Francois Beauchemin, Ole-Kristian Tollefson, Tyler Sloan. Forwards: Joe Motzko, Jeremy Reich, Tim Jackman, Mark Hartigan, Matthias Trattnig, Raffaele Sannitz, Alexander Svitov, Brandon Sugden, Greg Mauldin, Mike Pandolfo, Jeff Panzer, Brad Moran, Chris Ferraro, Peter Ferraro, Steve Goertzen.
Pre-game Skate:
The Crunch scratched goaltender Pascal Leclaire (groin), defensemen Prestin Ryan (pending suspension) and Francois Beauchemin (hand), right wing Steve Goertzen, left wing Matthias Trattnig and center Jeff Panzer. Binghamton did not dress right wing Danny Bois and defenseman Jesse Fibiger.
Short Shifts:
The two shorthanded goals scored by Binghamton were the first "shorties" surrendered by the Crunch this season………Linesman Tim Kotyra made the call on Pothier's boarding major after conferring with Referee Bob Langdon, who did not see the infraction…… Prior to the game the Crunch announced that they have recalled defenseman Tyler Sloan from Dayton of the ECHL. Sloan has appeared in 23 games with the Bombers, recording 3 goals, 6 assists and 45 penalty minutes. He was paired for the night with Zenith Komarniski ……….Center Jeff Panzer was a healthy scratch for the second time in four games on Monday. A key off season sign for the Crunch, Panzer is pointless in five games since returning from a knee injury. Panzer has also only recorded five points (3g, 2a) in 20 games this season.
On Deck:
Syracuse hits the road on Tuesday to kick-off a seven-game road trip that starts with back-to-back games on Wednesday and Thursday against the St. John's Maple Leafs. The Crunch don't return home until January 14th when the play the Cleveland Barons at the War Memorial.