Today in the A, it’s another look at the Calder Cup playoffs. With Mike’s in depth examination as to just what it might take to pry Jason Spezza from the Ottawa Senators, Ottawa’s AHL affiliate, the Binghamton Senators claimed a 4-3 overtime win on Wednesday night on their home ice. The Senators, from Broome County, thus swept the first year Charlotte Checkers, 4-0 to advance to the Calder Cup Finals. This will mark the city of Binghamton’s first appearance in the finals since 1982, when the Binghamton Whalers were defeated by the New Brunswick Hawks. (Yes I must be getting old, I saw both of those teams play!)
Leading the way again for Bingo was former Falcon, Ryan Potulny. Potulny netted the first goal of the night on the power play at the 12:34 mark of the first period. The first period drew to a close with Binghamton veteran Kaspars Daugavins converting a shorthanded bid, making it 2-0 after one.
Charlotte engineered their comeback with two goals late in the second period. Chris Terry and Casey Boxer each scored, within 1:39 of each other to tie the game after two periods.
Sens defenseman, Andre Benoit gave Bingo the lead at 4:44 of the final stanza. As the Checkers inaugural season was winding down, Chris Terry scored his second of the night at 18:36 to send the game to OT.
Captain Ryan Keller sealed the game at 13:05 of the extra session from a faceoff in the Charlotte zone. Here’s the goal (it happens very quickly!):
The Senators now await the winner of the Houston – Hamilton series. The ‘Dogs came back with a convincing 8-1 win over Houston last night, leaving that series with the Aeros leading 3-1. Game 5 is set for tomorrow night in Hamilton.