Checkers Too Much For BDevils to Handle in 6-3 Loss

BINGHAMTON, NY - Binghamton Devils opened up a 3-1 lead in the first only to surrender the next five unanswered as the Charlotte Checkers closed out the weekend with a 6-3 victory before a large crowd on Saturday. The loss ended a six-game winning streak as the Devils faced a very sound Checkers club that won the Calder Cup Championship last season.

It was a much better effort for Binghamton over Friday night’s performance that began in the opening twenty minutes. Goals by Chris Conners, Jake Bean, and Micheal McLeod within 00:36 seconds early on that was a little bit crazy before both Louis Domingue and Anton Forsberg could get settled in.

Photo Credit: JustSports Photography / Binghamton Devils

Binghamton (27-24-4-0) would take a two-goal lead on a one-timer by Julian Melchiori on the PP as the Devils had momentum. However, unbeknownst to many, this would be the last goal of the night for the BDevils. Oliwer Kaski would make it a one-goal game with 00:15 seconds left for a PP tally in a wild opening 20 minutes.

Checkers (30-19-4-0) roared back with three goals in the middle frame by Joey Keane, Clark Bishop, and Steven Lorentz on the PP. First Keane with a wrister past a screened Domingue followed by a double deflection in front for the Checkers as the puck bounced off of Bishop and then an absolute rocket from Lorentz along the sideboards that beat Domingue short side, as he looked behind him in disbelief.

In the final period, Binghamton poured on the pressure and ended up with 22 shots but couldn’t get one past Forsberg as he finished the night strong with 36 saves.

Lorentz would add an empty netter with 00:23 seconds remaining as the two clubs split the weekend series in Binghamton. Shots ended up in favor of Binghamton, 39-23.

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Line-Up, Game #55

Seney - Street - Boqvist, Baddock - McLeod - Bastian, Conner - Sharangovich - Studenic, Gignac - Maltsev - Schnarr

Cumiskey/Tennyson, Melchiori/Quenneville, Groleau/Jacobs

Domingue - Cormier

Scratches: Paliotta, Sissons, Zetterlund, Schmelzer & Senn

Post Game Notes

**PLAYOFF WATCH** - Binghamton (58 pts) is in 5th place 2 points behind 4th place Syracuse (60 pts) with a game on hand and percentage points ahead of 6th place Laval (58 pts) also with a game on hand in the North Division.

• Defenseman David Quenneville, younger brother of former Devils John, made his BDevils debut and I thought he played well as he registered his point with an assist on the first goal with a nice feed to Conner in front for the tip-in.
• Domingue with a rough outing in his first game back since New Year’s Eve contest as he let in 5 goals on 14 shots.
• Brett Seney and the rest of the top line of Ben Street and Jesper Boqvist, was shut down once again by the much larger contingent of players for Charlotte.
• The two teams will meet again Mar 31st - Apr 1st in Charlotte.
• Players wore jerseys resemblance of the 40th anniversary of Team USA’s win over Russia in the 1980 Winter Olympics. They were auctioned off after the game.

Your Three Stars

#1. Steven Lorentz (2g, 2a), #2. Joey Keane (1g, 1a), #3. Jake Bean (1g, 1a)

Video Highlights

A Look From Above