Binghamton Senators one win away from eliminating Houston Aeros and winning Calder Cup Finals - AHL
Binghamton Senators is only a win away from eliminating Houston Aeros and winning the annual American Hockey League (AHL) Calder Cup Final after it won Game 5 by 4-2 at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena in Binghamton, New York.
Binghamton, Ottawa Senators’ farm league team, is now on the verge of winning its first Calder Cup after winning Game 5 in an up and down series.
Houston, that has the home-ice advantage in the series, won the first game in Binghamton but lost the next at home and countered back again in Game 3.
Game 4 turned the tables around as Senators shutout Aeros, 3-0, and again won Game 5 to put them on the verge of elimination.
Game 5 was over packed as Senators played its last game of the series at home and will have to travel to Houston and play at the Toyota Centre for the remaining two games, if they fail to eliminate Houston in Game 6.
Senators opened up the scoring once again as Corey Locke scored nearly midway through the first period off a smart pass from teammate, Andre Benoit.
Robin Lehner lost his shutout extension chance when Houston countered back and scored nearly two minutes later through Jean-Michel Daoust.
In less than two minutes, Erik Condra, Senators’ right wing, made the tie-breaker for his fifth of the postseason.
Marco Scandella then levelled up the match once again with 6.3 seconds remaining in the first period to make the crowd even tenser than it already was.
Binghamtons’ 6’2 centre, Zack Smith, scored the only goal of the second period with a little over eight seconds remaining and put Senators up by one before entering the third and final period.
It was a hectic 20 minutes as Aeros fought to tie up the match while Senators worked to maintain the lead.
Smith scored his second of the night with 4:04 remaining and secured the match for Senators, which along with the crowd, immediately breathed in a wave of fresh air.
Game 6 will be played on Tuesday, June 7th, as Senators attempt to win its first Calder Cup Finals in Houston.
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