Binghamton stays alive with 5-4 overtime win
Although they didn't make it easy on themselves, the Binghamton Senators stayed alive with a hard-fought 5-4 win over the Manchester Monarchs. The B-Sens found themselves behind three separate times in the game, but tied the score each time until Kaspars Daugavins managed to give them the win with his overtime powerplay marker.
Despite the fact that Cody Bass gave Binghamton an early lead, it looked like Manchester was going to close Bingo out for much of the first 40 minutes. Manchester took the lead with goals from defensemen Viatcheslav Voynov and forward Ray Kaunisto, and after Bobby Butler scored to tie the game up, Kaunisto put up his second of the night to give Manchester the lead again.
Ryan Potulny knotted the game at three to start the third period, and then after David Meckler gave Manchester the lead again, Potulny tied it up again to send the game to overtime. It was Potulny's seventh goal of the AHL playoffs so far, which is ridiculous and tops in the AHL.
On the powerplay in overtime, Andre Benoit and Daugavins played hot potato with the puck at the point, and when he saw an opening, Daugavins stepped into a shot that got past Monarchs goaltender Jeff Zatkoff to cap off the victory.
Binghamton heads back to Manchester still down in the series, but with a little life thanks to the win.
B-Sens Hero: Ryan Potulny
Potulny just keeps producing for the B-Sens. With his sixth and seventh goals of the post-season, Potulny now has nine playoff points in five games--more than he had in 14 regular season games with Binghamton. His chemistry with Roman Wick and Ryan Keller seems obvious, but Potulny's willingness to get to the front of the net and fight for pucks seems to be key to his success.
B-Sens Hero: Andre Benoit
With three assists tonight, Benoit has seven points in the five playoff games so far. He also fired six shots on net.
B-Sens Killer: Ray Kaunisto
Kaunisto was the man for Manchester on Wednesday night. He had a couple goals, and almost got himself a hat trick in the third period.
B-Sens Hero: Powerplay
The B-Sens powerplay was lacking in game four, but came up huge in game five. Three clutch goals came with the man advantage, including the overtime winner. With nine PP opportunities, that's still a pedestrian a pretty impressive 33% efficiency rate, but it did what it had to.
Game highlights:
