Friday, December 22, 2006

PHILADELPHIA - The Philadelphia Phantoms erased two one-goal deficits in the final period and ended up on the right end of a 4-2 decision over the Binghamton Senators on Friday night at the Wachovia Spectrum. Mark Cullen, Nolan Baumgartner, Pete Zingoni and Boyd Kane scored for the Purple, which earned its second consecutive victory.

For the first time this season, the Phantoms played a game through two periods without either side scoring a goal. The scoring drought finally ended 5:33 into the third frame when Binghamton blocked a Phantoms clearing attempt and the puck ended up behind the Philadelphia blueliners on the stick of Ryan Vesce. Vesce bided his time before faking and then beating Scott Munroe to give the Senators a 1-0 lead.

But the lead only lasted 14 seconds, until the 5:47 mark. Cullen won the ensuing center ice draw and then took a pass back from Lars Jonsson inside his own blue line. Cullen turned up ice and maneuvered his way down the right side boards before cutting in front and roofing one over Jeff Glass to tie the game. It was his third goal and eighth point in three games against Binghamton.

Binghamton took the lead again at 8:20 on a fortunate bounce. A slapshot from the point hit Philadelphia's Matt Davis right in the glove as he passed through the slot, and the puck hit the iron behind Munroe and fell right to the feet of Brian Maloney. Maloney slammed it home to make it 2-1.

Again, however, the Phantoms came right back - this time 34 seconds later. The Phantoms were set up in the Binghamton zone when Tony Voce took the puck on the right boards and fed Baumgartner at the point. Baumgartner's one-timer flew through traffic and beat Glass low, tying the game at 2-2.

Then, with 7:14 remaining, the Phantoms took their first lead of the night on a fortunate bounce of their own. Pete Zingoni was deep in the left corner when he tossed a puck in front. Confused members of Binghamton's defensive corps spun about, and the puck bounced off one of them and into the net to give Philadelphia the 3-2 advantage.

The Phantoms then killed off more than 90 seconds of five-on-three time in the game's final minutes before Kane iced the victory with an empty-netter with 40 seconds remaining.

"I think a really big key was when they scored their goals, we came right back next shift and scored," Baumgartner said. "That gave us a lot of confidence, (and showed) that we were going to win this game."

Munroe took the win with 23 saves on 25 Binghamton shots, while Glass absorbed the loss with 33 saves on 36 of the Phantoms 37 shots on the night.