Crunch Dogged in Bingo
Syracuse, NY, (Friday, November 7, 2008)
Binghamton, NY (November 7, 2008) – The Syracuse Crunch could not overcome two power play goals against and fell to Binghamton tonight, 4-1, at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena in front of 4,710 fans.
Three first period power plays and a 14-shot barrage on Binghamton starter Brian Elliott wasn’t enough to get on the board, as the Crunch finished up the first frame on the wrong side of a 1-0 score.
Binghamton cashed in on their second man-advantage when defenseman Andrey Plekhanov was whistled off for hooking at the 12:16 mark.
Senators rookie Zack Smith notched his seventh goal of the campaign when he found a rebound of a Ryan Shannon shot and stuffed it past the outstretched left pad of Crunch starter Dan LaCosta 12:44 into the first.
It took just over 30 minutes since the opening face-off of the game, but the Crunch finally broke through on the score sheet halfway through the second period on the power play. Clay Wilson tallied his team-leading fifth goal of the year as he took a pass from Nikita Filatov and ripped a wrister that beat Elliott low to the glove side to tie the game at 1-1.
The Senators re-took the lead when Crunch killer Ilya Zubov notched his sixth of the season and third against Syracuse when he corralled a loose puck in the right circle and beat LaCosta to the glove side to make it 2-1.
Binghamton went up by a 3-1 count just 51 seconds later when Drew Fata’s wrist shot from the blue line found its way into the back of the net through a screened LaCosta. Shots were dead even after two periods at 22 a piece.
The Senators extened their lead to 4-1 just 1:30 into the third period on a carry-over power play. Ryan Shannon fed Brendan Bell at the side of the net who one-timed a shot past LaCosta.
After coming back from two goals in their last two games against Binghamton, the B-Sens defense shut it down in the third period and the Crunch were not able to mount another come-from-behind win, falling 4-1.
CRUNCHABLES: Dan LaCosta made his first start since October 25 @ Rochester after being assigned by Columbus November 4…Nikita Filatov tallied his first professional assist on Clay Wilson’s second period power play marker.