They were outshot but not outplayed.
The B-Sens had 12 fewer shots on goal, spent more time in the penalty box and wasted a five-on-three power play. Yet they somehow managed to outscore their East Division rival Philadelphia Phantoms 5-1.
Such is the enigma of the Binghamton Senators, whose game stats and final scores never seem to fit together. Goalkeeper Kelly Guard, who tied the franchise record of 46 saves in a game, emerged as the star of the game, though the win was clearly a team effort.
“It was an all-around effort on everybody’s part,” said captain Denis Hamel. “I give a lot of credit to Kelly.”
Kelly was humble in the face of praise.
“Philadelphia might have had a lot of shots, but the guys kept them to the outside,” Guard said. “With a three-goal lead you can concentrate on blocking shots.”
Despite a disappointing 9-4 loss against the Syracuse Crunch Wednesday night, the B-Sens went into Saturday’s game with a renewed optimism after their 5-4 win against the Rochester Americans the night before.
Jeff Heerema had Binghamton’s first goal against Philadelphia less than four minutes into the first period, lodging a pass from Grant Potulny into the upper right-hand corner of the net while Phantoms goalie Martin Houle was on his knees.
Hamel, as usual, scored multiple goals, both assisted by Steve Martins. The first came 1:24 into the second period, and the second just 2:18 before the clock ran out on the third. Joe Cullen scored 6:25 into the third period with Martins adding the assist, and Brandon Bochenski hit the top right corner two minutes later with Flip Novak adding his second assist of the night.
Phantom Ryan Ready scored Philly’s only goal with 5:08 left in the game while Senator Tomas Malec was sitting on the bench for holding the stick.
Avoiding penalties has been a huge problem for the B-Sens, who lead the AHL with an average of 29.8 penalty minutes per game. Binghamton’s lack of penalties Saturday night — they logged only 18 minutes in the box — probably accounted for its success.
“We’ve been working on it all season,” Hamel said of his team’s penalty issues. “We’re trying to make sure we’re more disciplined. We didn’t get as many penalties [Saturday] and that may be why we won. We need five-on-five play.”
After winning two straight, Binghamton had another disappointing meeting with Syracuse Sunday night. Despite goals from Martins and Lance Ward, the team could not overcome the three-goal lead the Crunch built by the beginning of the final period.
Bochenski had two goals in Wednesday’s 9-4 loss and another two in Friday’s 5-4 win. Potulny and Hamel had one each against Syracuse, and Jan Platil and Danny Bois each scored against Rochester before Heerema’s winning shootout goal. Guard recorded 29 saves Friday in addition to a shootout shutout and, in true Senator fashion, the team logged 26 penalty minutes for two fights and one count each of unsportsmanlike conduct and gross misconduct.
The Senators are currently in fifth place in the East Division and will head to Philadelphia tomorrow night. They will then return home to host Toronto on Friday and Hamilton on Saturday before heading to Bridgeport on Sunday.