Binghamton Devils Lose 1-0 in OT to Hershey Bears

One of those nights.

Good, bad and the ugly to be taken from the Binghamton Devils’ game against the Hershey Bears on Wednesday. Let’s form a short review starting from the bottom up.

The Ugly - Not the best performance on the ice with nearly a complete line-up healthy for the first time in a while as the Bears win it in overtime 1-0. It seemed the entire night the action was in the Devils’ zone with a hungry Hershey club breathing down their necks.

The Bad - Shots continue to plague the club with a total of 45 taken over the last three outings. Penalties were too many as lucky as we were Hershey didn’t generate a lot of shots.

The Good - Binghamton (19-20-4-0) stole a point they had no reason to have. Cam Johnson was great in his first game since a New Year’s Eve loss to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton as he stopped 24 of 25 shots and helped keep his team in it.

Photo provided by Alicia Strauch

With most of the action taken place in the Devils end just about the entire night, Johnson kept the boys in it otherwise the score could have been very easily 4-0 Bears. Sloppy play on behalf of the defense as Hershey wanted it more than Binghamton did.

A no-goal was ruled against the BDevils as Michael McLeod made contact with Bears’ netminder Ilya Samsonov, although it appeared he was pushed into him but the play is not reviewable in the AHL unlike it is in the NHL. That would sum up the BDevils’ scoring chances as they were out-shot 25-16, including 3-1 in OT.

The game-winner was scored by veteran defenseman Ryan Sproul as he beat Johnson on a partial breakaway with a 1:40 left in the extra session for his fifth of the season.

Line-Up, Game #43

Forwards: Gignac - Schmelzer - Lappin, Tangradi - McLeod - Bastian, Quenneville - Sharangovich - Studenic, Baddock - Speers - Gabriel

Defensemen: White - Gryba, Kapla - Ramage, Hammond - Jacobs

In Goal: Cam Johnson, Evan Cormier

Scratches: Brian Strait, Eddie Lack, Nick Saracino and Colby Sissons

Post Game Notes

• JQ, Jacobs, and Gignac all returned from out of the line-up for various injuries as Kevin Rooney and Blake Pietila are both still up in New Jersey.
• With the point, it makes 9 out of a possible 10 in the last 5 games to keep the club in the playoff race with 42. 5th in the North Division and 1 point out of a playoff berth in the Eastern Conference behind 8th place Toronto Marlies (although the Marlies have 4 games on-hand).
• Game kicked off an upcoming run of 7 games in the next 11 days with 4 home (including tonight) and 3 away. It will be interesting to see the goalie rotation during this stretch as I’m sure Coach MD has set-up a competition of sorts between Johnson and Even Cormier.
• A fight broke out between Brandon Baddock and Tyler Lewington in the 2nd period as it was more about some grabbing and tussling with Lewington on a takedown. Baddock appeared shaken afterward as he skated in-between breaks what appeared to be him favoring his leg.
• Blake Speers took some important faceoffs in the Devils’ zone when shorthanded and skated off to the bench. The AHL doesn’t keep track of faceoffs but this would be one of those instances that would come in handy.
• Flush it away and get ready for Friday. No sense in harboring a loss as it happens and hopefully lessons learned.

Three Stars

#1. Ilya Samsonov (16 saves), #2. Ryan Sproul (1g), #3. Cam Johnson (24 saves)

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The BDevils have reached a busy time of their schedule as the weekend kicks off with Friday’s visit to Utica to take on the Comets.