On Sunday, April 12, the American Hockey League’s 2008-09 regular season comes to a close. But for 16 teams, possibly including the Binghamton Senators, the journey for the coveted Calder Cup championship has just begun.
In each of the AHL’s four divisions, the top four teams will make the playoffs. As of yesterday, Binghamton is in possession of fourth place in the East Division with 84 points. Their three potential divisional opponents, Bridgeport, Hershey and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, are jostling for position at the top.
This season could be the first time Binghamton has made the playoffs since 2005, when they were beaten in the first round by Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. The only threat to Binghamton’s playoff hopes are the Philadelphia Phantoms, who as of yesterday are only six points behind in the Eastern Division’s fifth-place spot.
Although the playoffs don’t start until mid-April, the B-Sens got a taste of the format last week, as they played the Norfolk Admirals in four consecutive games.
The first matchup was on March 13, where the B-Sens stormed past the Admirals, 6-2. A dozen players from Binghamton’s roster scored points in the win, including goaltender Jeff Glass, with six different players notching goals.
Denis Hamel opened the scoring halfway through the second period as he took a shot on Norfolk goaltender Riku Helenius. Norfolk’s Daryl Boyle was covering Hamel on the play, but collided with Helenius, sending both Helenius and Boyle into the net along with the puck.
Helenius’ luck worsened a minute later as he unintentionally kicked a bouncing puck into his own net following a shot by Binghamton’s Aaron Slattengren.
“Every goal is a good goal,” Binghamton coach Curtis Hunt said. “It doesn’t matter to me how it gets in.”
Binghamton added four more goals in the third period to seal up the victory. Jeff Glass stopped 24 shots.
“Right up and down the lineup we got a contribution from everybody, and I think that’s the story of the game tonight,” Glass said. “To go out with a working mentality and work for the team and not for themselves, it’s good.”
The next night the tide turned for the Admirals as they beat the B-Sens, 5-2.
Binghamton’s Greg Mauldin tied the game at one in the first minute of the third period. However, the difference maker came later as Norfolk scored three goals in the span of a minute.
“As an observer you think, ‘Wow, we scored in the first minute and solved the goaltender,’ but we didn’t maintain that game plan and it was a collapse,” Hunt said.
Mauldin added his second goal of the game halfway through the third period, but it was too little too late.
“Tonight seemed like the opposite of last night,” Mauldin said. “They got a few goals on us and it snowballed pretty quickly.”
The B-Sens then departed for a three-game road trip, taking two out of three games in Norfolk and Philadelphia.
Helenius sat out the previous matchup in Binghamton for backup goaltender Craig Kowalski, but his bad luck traveled with him to Norfolk.
Binghamton took the first of the two contests by a score of 5-3. In the third period of the first game, the B-Sens scored three goals in three minutes, which ensured the victory.
The Admirals fought back the following night and took the second contest with a 4-2 result.
Binghamton had six opportunities on the power play to score on Helenius, but only converted on one chance after Mauldin buried a pass from Peter Regin. Mauldin scored goals during both games in Norfolk, while Regin collected four points.
The team then traveled to Philadelphia for an important battle for playoff points where Binghamton earned a 2-1 shootout victory. Both goals were scored in the middle frame, and Regin scored twice along with Hamel in the shootout.
On Wednesday, the B-Sens had a chance to put Philadelphia even farther down in the playoff race, but lost in front of 3,694 fans at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena.
Binghamton was unable to figure out Philadelphia goaltender Scott Munroe until the last 10 minutes of the game, where Hamel earned his 500th career AHL point as he assisted in a Mattias Karlsson power-play goal.
However, Hamel was more concerned about the playoff race than his milestone accomplishment.
“It’s just a number for me,” Hamel said. “I’m more pissed off we lost the game, and I want to make the playoffs this year.”
According to the Press & Sun-Bulletin and the B-Sens Executive Vice President of Operations Tom Mitchell, the team could run into scheduling trouble in terms of hosting games for a first-round playoff series. The weekend of April 17, when Binghamton would play their home games, is booked with a monster truck show and a Hinder concert.