(PHILADELPHIA, April 4, 2004) - Julien Vauclair scored with 1:19 left in overtime to lift the Binghamton Senators to a 3-2 victory over the Philadelphia Phantoms tonight in front of a crowd of 10,951 at the Wachovia Spectrum.

Binghamton overcame a 2-0 deficit on goals by Brad Tapper and Cory Pecker before the duo assisted on Vauclair’s game-winner at 3:51 of overtime. After P.J. Stock narrowly missed scoring on the other end, the Senators countered and Vauclair was set up for a one-timer from the slot that sailed over goaltender Antero Niittymaki’s shoulder.

Vauclair’s ninth goal gave Binghamton a 4-2 victory in the season series. Ray Emery stopped 39-of-41 shots to notch the win for the Senators, who had dropped four of their last five games.

Kirby Law and Kirk Furey each scored in the first period for Philadelphia, which had its season-high six-game win streak halted. Niittymaki finished with 24 saves, ending his personal five-game win streak.

The Phantoms picked up a point in the standings and now own a two-point lead over Hartford for the top spot in the Eastern Conference. Philadelphia also drew even with Milwaukee for most points (98) in the AHL, but the Wolf Pack and Admirals have both played one less game. The Phantoms sit four points ahead of second-place Bridgeport in the East Division.

Law helped Philadelphia open the scoring for the seventh game in a row by capping off a nice 2-on-1 rush with 3:40 left in the first period. Peter White took a feed from Furey and darted down the middle, drawing Emery out of position before passing it wide to Law, who easily tallied his 30th of the year.

On the goal, White became just the eighth player in AHL history to compile 500 assists.

The Phantoms widened the gap to 2-0 with 69 seconds to go in the first. On the play, Peter Vandermeer beat a Binghamton defenseman to a Randy Jones clearing pass deep in the Senators end and spotted Furey alone on the other side. The defenseman settled the puck and blasted in his ninth goal from the circle.

Philadelphia had a golden opportunity to extend their lead during a full two-minute 5-on-3 opportunity in the second period, but came up empty. Less than a minute later, Binghamton got on the board thanks to a deflection by Tapper at the 10:26 mark. Charlie Stephens and Arpad Mihaly set up Tapper’s 10th goal.

“I’m not unhappy with the effort, I thought we had some really good chances to score and didn’t,” said Phantoms head coach John Stevens. “Emery kind of held them in there for a while, but if you let teams hang around, they just seem to have a little bit more energy. I think we could have made it 3-0 with a good chance on the (5-on-3) power play. We had a couple of good looks, but couldn’t finish. I think if we made it 3-0, the game’s over.”

The Senators took a power play into the third period and evened the score at 2-2 just 25 seconds in on Pecker’s ninth of the year. Stephens and Auclair assisted on Pecker’s jam-in from the doorstep.

“I thought we played awesome this weekend,” said Law. “It’s always hard to lose in overtime, but you have to take the positive out of the week. We played great hockey and we still have the ball rolling, so to speak. We have to go on the road to end the season, but I think that is good because we have some new faces in the lineup and it’s always good to get on the road and get those guys involved.”

Philadelphia ended the home portion of the 2003-04 season with a 24-11-3-2 mark. The team lost just four of its final 21 home games and recorded its most home wins since also collecting 24 in 1998-99.

The Phantoms close out the regular season next weekend with games in Albany, Bridgeport and Hershey, respectively.

Phantoms Notes: Stephen Wood, Brett Engelhardt, Joey Hope, Wade Skolney, Ben Stafford, Dennis Seidenberg and Craig Berube were scratches … John Slaney played in his 200th game as a Phantom.

Sunday, April 04, 2004

~*Jazzy*~