BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — A passionate and overflowing crowd of 4,727 fans at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena were sent off happy this evening as their Binghamton Senators won tonight over the Houston Aeros 4-2 to bring them within one game of the Calder Cup Championship. The two teams now travel to Houston for Game Six and possibly Game Seven if necessary.
The first period saw three goals scored in just over a three minute time span. Running on 4-on-4, Binghamton’s Corey Locke scored on consecutive nights at 9:19 in the period with the assist going to Andre Benoit. Houston then tied the game as defenseman Justin Falk fired a shot in on goal that was tipped by Jean-Michel Daoust that missed, but the rebound came right back out to the right winger as he was able to get the shot in 11:08 in. Pascal Morency was given the second assist as he was inserted into the lineup with an injury to Cody Almond. Just a little over a minute later, the Senators took the lead again as right wing Erik Condra stole the puck and scored on the breakaway. But one more tip of the scoring table happened in the first as Houston knotted the score up at two just as Benoit’s penalty was ending with Daoust scoring his second of the game with the lone assist going to Marco Scandella.
The second was fairly uneventful until Houston’s Colton Gillies took his second consecutive penalty for hooking. With 8.5 second left in the period, Bobby Butler was able to get a shot on net from the goal line but it was center Zack Smith who was able to get it in on goaltender Matt Hackett to give the Sens their third lead of the game and giving them momentum going into the final frame.
Binghamton played more of the third period in a defensive slowdown mode as was evident in the shots taken. But they ramped it up towards the end of game as chants of “We want the Cup,” emulated throughout the arena. With just over four minutes left in the period, left wing Kaspars Daugavins started an odd-man rush in transition. Center Jim O’Brien and Zack Smith exchanged passed with Smith getting the insurance goal with his second of the game.
The Houston loss came even though they outshot Binghamton 43-27 in the game. Robin Lehner made some key saves to keep his team in the game. This was his 18th straight start giving him 13 wins in the playoffs.
The Three Stars of the Game were:
3rd Star – Houston’s Jean-Michel Daoust with two goals
2nd Star – Binghamton’s Robin Lehner with 41 saves and the win
1st Star – Binghamton’s Zach Smith with two goals including the game-winner
2011 Calder Cup Finals HOUSTON vs. BINGHAMTON Binghamton leads series 3 – 2 Game 1 – Fri May 27 7:35 PM HOUSTON 3, Binghamton 1 Game 2 – Sat May 28 7:35 PM Binghamton 2, HOUSTON 1 OT Game 3 – Wed Jun 1 7:05 PM Houston 2, BINGHAMTON 1 Game 4 – Fri Jun 3 7:05 PM BINGHAMTON 3, Houston 0 Game 5 – Sat Jun 4 7:05 PM BINGHAMTON 4, Houston 2 Game 6 – Tue Jun 7 7:00 PM Binghamton at Houston Game 7 – Thu Jun 9 7:00 PM * Binghamton at Houston
(*if necessary)
Contact the writer at matt.chin@prohockeynews.com
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