Binghamton Devils In Yet Another Comeback Win

Binghamton, NY - For the second night in a row Binghamton trailed by two goals before mounting a comeback. This time, it was the Laval Rocket as All-Star forward Joey Anderson scored in the third round for a 3-2 victory over the team they’re chasing for the final playoff spot. It was their third victory in a row and 11th of the last 13 games as the Devils are five points out of fourth place in the North Division heading to the All-Star break.

Binghamton (20-19-4-0) and Laval (22-19-3-1) were locked in a tight defensive battle with a playoff-style intensity that hasn’t seen these parts in quite some time. But it turned ugly real fast after a scoreless opening period.

The Rocket scored two goals 36 seconds apart in the second period as Charles Hudon scored on a wicked wrister from the slot area past netminder Gilles Senn. That was followed by Laurent Dauphin putting in his rebound towards the side of the cage with Senn battling traffic in front.

Photo Credit: JustSports Photography / Binghamton Devils

In the third, Laval came out flying keeping the Devils back on their heels but Senn was there in one of his better appearances of the season. But that would eventually shift towards the Devils side. Kyle Cumiskey would pounce on a loose puck during traffic near the crease and slapped it by goalie Cayden Primeau for his second of the season that made it a 2-1 contest.

Defenseman Josh Jacobs shot worked its way through Primeau as the puck slowly slithered past the goal line ahead of the skate of Brett Seney and after a short review, it was determined a good goal with just over five minutes left in the period. Devils finished with 18 shots after a slow start compared to 10 for Laval.

In the OT, Laval dominated puck possession but Senn came up with several good saves once again. Even during a rare powerplay Binghamton could not find their groove with the stingy Rocket PKer’s and ended up being outshot 8-1.

Off to the shootout to determine the bonus point as Binghamton was undefeated in five appearances entering the game. Jesper Boqvist scored in the first round, Phil Varone in the second that set up the decider with Anderson. His high wrister caught the upper half of the net as the team, as well as the fans went wild in celebration. Overall shots in favor of Binghamton 32-31.

Line-Up, Game #43

Boqvist - Maltsev - Anderson, Seney - Sharangovich - Merkley, Baddock - McLeod - Bastian, Gignac - Schnarr - Schmelzer

White/Tennyson, Mermis/Jacobs, Melchiori/Cumiskey

Senn - Cormier

Scratches: Paliotta, Studenic, Zetterlund, Larsson, Groleau, Conner & Schneider

Post Game Notes

• Senn was solid in particular the Overtime session and kept the Devils in it as he finished with 29 saves and improved to 9-6-2-0, 3.04 GAA, 0.891 SV%.
• This was a fun one to be part of with the club coming together and now with confidence and momentum in their favor. Before the steak, Devils would cough up 2 goal leads with regularity but now have flipped the script with the latest comeback. That spells volumes on how far this bunch has come in such a short time that all can be traced back when the trade took place that brought Nick Merkley and Nate Schnarr over.
• What more can you say about Anderson as he continues to improve in his development. I recently spoke about his recent play here as he heads off to the West Coast representing the BDevils for the AHL All-Star event.
• Mikhail Maltsev centered Boqvist and Anderson which was interesting to see. Speaking of which, I think Boqvist would benefit from some additional time in Bingo to further work on his game. He just needs some confidence in his abilities and this team has exactly what he needs at the right place and at the right time.
• A fight broke out in the first period between Michael Pezzetta and Brandon Baddock as Pezzetta was able to land a few shots while pinning Baddock to the boards.
• 5 points separate the Rocket and then Toronto, Syracuse, Binghamton, and Cleveland in that order for the final postseason spot. There’s a lot of hockey left and as long as the Devils continue to remain hot then hopefully this will play out right.

Your Three Stars

#1. Joey Anderson (GW), #2. Josh Jacobs (1g), #3. Kyle Cumiskey (1g)

Video Highlights

A Look From Above