BINGHAMTON, NY – The Binghamton Devils scored four goals in the final period of play, including three in a span of 3:02 for a 5-2 win at home over the visiting Belleville Senators in front of 3,784 at Floyd L. Maines Veterans Memorial Arena on Saturday night.
Michael Latta made a good first impression for fans in Binghamton and gave the Devils a 1-0 lead in the second period. Tim Kennedy picked up the puck below the goal line and fed Latta going to the net who beat goaltender Chris Driedger for the lead. The goal came 4:28 into the middle period for Latta’s first with the Devils and third overall on the season with the only assist to Kennedy.
Belleville responded on the power play to even the game at one goal. Gabriel Gagne fired the puck from below the goal line and it bounced in for his team-leading 12th of the year for the Senators. Gagne’s goal evened the score 1-1 with the only assist going to Jim O’Brien. The two sides were still tied heading into the third period with the Devils holding a 21-15 shot advantage.
In the third period, Austin Cangelosi sent a rebound by Driedger’s right leg pad on the power play for a one-goal lead at 3:31 from Colton White and Viktor Loov.
Mike Blunden tied the game with just six minutes left to go in the game on a shot by Max Reinhart from the right point. Reinhart took the shot and Blunden tipped it by Appleby with the other assist going to Andreas Englund to tie the game at two goals.
Binghamton then exploded for three goals in a span of 3:22 for the three-goal victory. Just 20 seconds after Belleville tied the game, Loov skated to his left across the blue line and sent a shot by Driedger for his fourth of the year from Kennedy and a 3-2 advantage.
As the goal was being announced in the arena, Blake Speers put the Devils up 4-2 as he slid the puck by the right leg pad of Driedger from the top of the crease for his fourth of the year. Speers’ goal was assisted by Kevin Rooney and Dylan Olsen for the two-goal lead.
While shorthanded with less than three minutes to go in the game, Rooney poked the puck away and scored on a breakaway for his fourth shorthanded goal of the year and fifth goal overall to give the Devils a 5-2 lead. Rooney’s goal was unassisted and the Devils came away with a 5-2 win to end a four-game losing skid. Appleby stopped 20 of 22 in the victory while Driedger stopped 22 of 27 in the loss.
