Third Period Collapse Sinks Binghamton Devils Once Again

Where have we seen this before..

Binghamton played a decent first two periods and were tied with the Amerks at one a piece, but the same old Devils showed up in the third as they gave up four goals on their way to a 5-2 loss in Rochester on Friday. The visiting BDevils (11-20-4-2) have lost for the 12th time in the last 15 games while Rochester (23-8-4-3) is percentage points out of first place behind the Toronto Marlies in the North Division.

Devils’ goaltender Ken Appleby, in his first start in over a week, didn’t show any signs of rust and was solid in net for 40 minutes until the Amerks broke the game open in the final 20. (He filled in as Eddie Lack is out with an undisclosed injury.)

Rochester led early as they capitalized on a 5v3 situation when forward C.J. Smith poked home a loose puck past Appleby for his 12th goal of the season. Binghamton would then tie it in the middle frame as Nick Lappin scored his team leading 14th with a pounce on the puck near the crease sent in by Amerks’ netminder Adam Wilcox. Shots after two periods were 20-14 Rochester.

Amerks then took over and went ahead with four goals on just 12 shots in the final 20 minutes that began with a bad BDevils turnover that led to Kevin Porter’s ninth goal of the season at 4:51. Less than four minutes after, it was a spin-o-rama shot by forward Nicholas Baptiste from the circle that went into the back of the net on Appleby’s short side.

Kevin Rooney would cut the lead to one with his seventh on a Rochester turnover near the blueline as the BDevils had a four on two rush with 10:11 left in the third. However, Kyle Criscuolo would restore the two goal lead as Appleby gave up a big rebound as it appeared the puck jumped off of his leg pad on a funny bounce, but Criscuolo would drive the puck through traffic from high in the slot area for a 4-2 Rochester lead.

Amerks would put the game away as Devils’ defenseman Colton White took a wrong turn near center ice that led to a breakaway goal by forward Seth Griffith, who finished the night with three points and a 5-2 Amerks victory. Shots ended up in favor of the home team 32-20.

Line-Ups

Forwards; Pietila-Kennedy-Latta, Kearns-Rooney-Lappin, Baddock-Penny-Thomson, Morris-Mandat-Lane. Defensemen; Strait-Jacobs, White-MacDonald, Kapla-Dyblenko. In Goal; Ken Appleby. Back up; Mackenzie Blackwood. Scratches; Austin Cangelosi (inj.), Brandon Gignac (inj.), Viktor Loov (inj.), Blake Speers (inj.) and Nathan Bastian (inj.), John Quenneville (ill), Eddie Lack (inj.), Dylan Olsen and Terrance Wallin, healthy. Pietila, Strait and Rooney with the A’s.

Random Post Game Notes

• Goalie Mackenzie Blackwood was called up from the Adirondack Thunder to back up Ken Appleby, as Eddie Lack is out for the weekend with an injury. Don’t know the extent of the injury or what happened as he looked fine in last Wednesday’s game vs Syracuse.
• JQ still fighting the flu but Blake Pietila was back and took his place on the top line.
• Kevin Rooney another fine effort on several PK’s on the night as he makes it look easy.
• I had a chat with Anthony and Mike from the Talking Devils on Thursday discussing my thoughts on the Binghamton Devils season so far and some players to watch for;

Three Stars

#1.) Seth Griffith (1g, 2a), #2.) C.J. Smith (1g, 1a), #3.) Kyle Criscuolo (1g, 1a)

Video Highlights

Upcoming Games

BDevils will host the Utica Comets on Saturday to round up the weekend.