Game Notes: 12/14/07 v. Binghamton Senators
Crunch Edged by Binghamton
Binghamton, NY (December 14, 2007) – The Syracuse Crunch fell to the Binghamton Senators tonight, 4-3, at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena in front of 4,096 fans.
The Interstate 81 rivalry started out slowly, with both clubs trying to feel each other out since they had not played each other in almost six weeks. Mat Kinch’s hooking penalty 2:07 in was the cause of the game’s first goal, but it was Justin Mapletoft lighting the lamp for Binghamton short-handed to give the Senators a 1-0 lead. Mapletoft broke in on a 2-on-1 and elected to shoot on Crunch starter Karl Goehring. His wrister beat Goehring to the glove side and stayed just inside the post for the tally.
However, the Crunch would have an answer just 1:08 later on the same power play. Brett Motherwell’s shot from the left point was re-directed in front by Alexandre Picard and found a way through Senators’ starter Brian Elliott to tie the game, 1-1. The rest of the stanza was a physical affair, with neither team backing away from the action.
The second period started with another Binghamton penalty that the Crunch were able to capitalize on. With Geoff Waugh in the box for hooking, Derek MacKenzie scooped up a Motherwell pass that came to him along the boards, skated out to the top of the circle and rifled a slapper past Elliott to give the Crunch a 2-1 lead at the 2:39 mark. Syracuse controlled most of the action in the period, but Binghamton would tie the game at 7:55 on a tally from Lawrence Nycholat.
Nycholat took a pass from Alexander Nikulin in the slot and fired a wrist shot that went off the glove of Goehring and in the net. The Crunch had a few quality scoring chances the rest of the period, including a partial short-handed breakaway by Adam Pineault with about one minute to go. Pineault deked to his backhand but the puck fluttered off his stick and went wide of the net. Mark Methot took a holding penalty at 18:47 which Syracuse was able to hill off in the final 1:13 of the stanza.
The Senators started the period on a carry-over power play, but Syracuse was able to kill off the rest of Methot’s penalty. The Crunch would again take the lead 6:10 in when Joakim Lindstrom started a rush up the ice and fed Pineault in the corner. Pineault put a pass right on the tape of a streaking Zenon Konopka who pounded it home to give the Crunch a 3-2 lead. That lead only last one minute as Binghamton’s Tyler Donati scored on the power play at the 7:12 mark to tie the game once again.
The Senators would keep the momentum in their favor and netted the go-ahead marker, another power play score, with 4:44 remaining. Denis Hamel took a feed in front from Niko Dimitrakos and put it over the shoulder of Goehring for the 4-3 lead. The Crunch threw everything they had at Elliott in the final few minutes, but were denied time after time. Elliott had 45 save in the Binghamton victory.
CRUNCHABLES: Goaltender Karl Goehring made his season debut tonight after being signed by Syracuse yesterday to a professional try-out contract…The Crunch wrapped up a season-long seven-game road trip tonight that started on December 2 @ Lake Erie…Alexandre Picard notched his first goal of the season in the first perod tonight; he now has 5 points (1g, 4a) on the year.