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Apr. 19—WATERTOWN — Credit the Watertown Wolves with a mounting comeback bid after a rough start against their nemesis Binghamton on Friday night.
Yet it was a tough break that allowed the Black Bears to escape with the victory in a playoff series opener.
The Wolves tied the game early in the third period on a goal from Davide Gaeta, then Binghamton struck for a shorthanded goal midway through the period and went on to post a 3-2 triumph on Friday night in the first game of a Federal Prospects Hockey League first-round playoff series before a crowd of 580 at Watertown Municipal Arena.
With the reigning league champion Black Bears leading the best-of-three Empire Division semifinal series, the Wolves now face a daunting task as the series shifts to Binghamton.
"We definitely battled," Watertown coach Justin Coachman said. "We definitely showed that they can be beat. It was a bad bounce for their first goal and a good shot for their second goal and a turnover for the third goal. It's just the small little things that we can fix. I thought we played very well in the second and third periods and showed that we can play with them, if not better than them on 5-on-5."
After Binghamton, the top seed in the division, struck for two goals in the opening 10 minutes of the game, the Wolves shook off the slow start and generated a pair of power-play goals, one from Trevor Lord in the second period and the tying tally from Gaeta just 19 seconds into the third.
But after the Wolves went on the power play once again, a costly turnover led to a shorthanded tally from C.J. Stubbs just 19 seconds into the man advantage as he walked in alone and beat goalie Breandan Colgan up top in what would be the deciding goal.
"It's tough, (Domemic Della Civita's) a great defenseman, he's a great player and a great person," Coachman said. "You're never going to be perfect in a hockey game, it's something you've got to shake off and just come back out and be stronger tomorrow."
After being dominated by Binghamton in the regular season, Watertown showed it could at least hang with the division winners, but let a prime opportunity slip away.
The Wolves must quickly regroup as it plays at Binghamton at 7 p.m. Saturday and a third game, if necessary, will be played at the same time Monday.
"It really sucks that it went that way, but at the end of the day I think we saw that we can play with these guys and it's just not a walkover series," Wolves forward Trevor Grasby said.
The tale of the tape for the series was certainly one-sided entering the night as Binghamton had won seven of the eight meetings between the two teams in the regular season, including the previous six encounters.
The Black Bears opened the scoring 6:27 into the game as Scott Ramaekers took a pass in close and beat Colgan five-hole.
Former Wolves player Gavin Yates followed with a power-play goal at 9:57 as positioned right at the left post just to the right of the goalie, he lifted the puck past Colgan to build a 2-0 advantage.
"I think the start was an example of us giving them too much respect," Grasby said. "That first period, after that first goal we didn't exactly have many chances, but we fought back and showed we could play with them and when we start playing with them it's a whole new game."
The Wolves, whose first shot of the game came seven minutes in, were outshot, 16-5, in the opening period.
After killing off a two-man advantage and the rest of the ensuing power play, the Wolves broke through by scoring on a 5-on-3 man advantage on a power-play goal from Lord.
Lord scored from the right faceoff circle, wristing the puck past goalie Connor McAnanama with 3:56 left in the second period.
The Wolves came close to tying the game in the final minute of the period while on a two-man advantage, but Lord rang a shot off the crossbar as the buzzer sounded to end the period.
Watertown, which carried 3:25 of power play time in the third period with Austin Thompson off for a double-minor, drew even on Gaeta's goal 19 seconds in as he scored on a blast from the left side to beat McAnanama.
After the Black Bears reclaimed the lead on the shorthanded tally from Stubbs, the Wolves were unsuccessful on the rest of the power play.
Coachman was encouraged by his team's grit after yielding the two goals early in the game.
"It's just wanting the puck more, having a little more heart out there and battling," Coachman said. "We're a little bit of a younger team compared to them by I think about two years. They have a lot of guys carried over from last year's championship team and we have a lot of guys who haven't played in the playoffs before. So it's just about getting through that adversity."
After being outshot 16-5 in the first period, the Wolves picked up the pace and applied more pressure in the middle frame as the Black Bears forged only a 12-11 edge in shots.
"I think the only change wasn't really a schematic change, it was just a matter of knowing that we can go with these guys because they're human, too," Grasby said. "Yeah, their full of skill and full talent, but once you take their time and space away, like the approach is just going hard. Go hard the whole game and outwork them."
Now the Wolves hope they can continue to stay within reach of Binghamton while facing a win-or-go-home scenario Saturday night.
"That's the beauty of it, it's a quick turnaround and all you need is two (wins)," Grasby added.
"I think we showed we had our moments there throughout the game and now we've got to play a full 60 (minutes) and win a game," Della Civita, a rookie defenseman, said. "And for a team like us whose pride and joy is hard work and effort, we've really got to stick to that as best we can, starting tomorrow and get it done."
Binghamton has beaten Watertown in the first round of the playoffs for the past two seasons, winning each series in a two-game sweep.
"We've got to get to work, right? It's a best of three series for a reason," Coachman said. "We have to come out just swinging tomorrow and go win in their barn, it's tough, but we've got to do it. And then come out Monday and do the same thing."
Coachman, who took over as head coach in December, replacing previous coach and general manager Charlie Pens, Jr., is in his second stint coaching the team and also won a pair of league championships with the team as a player.
"It's a good series, it's going to be physical all the way through, we knew what we got ourselves into," rookie Della Civita said. "Binghamton is a great team, they're in first for a reason and they play a full 60 minutes in 10 gears and just keep going hard. We've got a big one tomorrow and we're hoping to bounce back."
Watertown, which finished fourth in the division, defeated fifth-place Motor City, 4-2, on Tuesday night in a division wild-card playoff game to advance to the first round.
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Yet it was a tough break that allowed the Black Bears to escape with the victory in a playoff series opener.
The Wolves tied the game early in the third period on a goal from Davide Gaeta, then Binghamton struck for a shorthanded goal midway through the period and went on to post a 3-2 triumph on Friday night in the first game of a Federal Prospects Hockey League first-round playoff series before a crowd of 580 at Watertown Municipal Arena.
With the reigning league champion Black Bears leading the best-of-three Empire Division semifinal series, the Wolves now face a daunting task as the series shifts to Binghamton.
"We definitely battled," Watertown coach Justin Coachman said. "We definitely showed that they can be beat. It was a bad bounce for their first goal and a good shot for their second goal and a turnover for the third goal. It's just the small little things that we can fix. I thought we played very well in the second and third periods and showed that we can play with them, if not better than them on 5-on-5."
After Binghamton, the top seed in the division, struck for two goals in the opening 10 minutes of the game, the Wolves shook off the slow start and generated a pair of power-play goals, one from Trevor Lord in the second period and the tying tally from Gaeta just 19 seconds into the third.
But after the Wolves went on the power play once again, a costly turnover led to a shorthanded tally from C.J. Stubbs just 19 seconds into the man advantage as he walked in alone and beat goalie Breandan Colgan up top in what would be the deciding goal.
"It's tough, (Domemic Della Civita's) a great defenseman, he's a great player and a great person," Coachman said. "You're never going to be perfect in a hockey game, it's something you've got to shake off and just come back out and be stronger tomorrow."
After being dominated by Binghamton in the regular season, Watertown showed it could at least hang with the division winners, but let a prime opportunity slip away.
The Wolves must quickly regroup as it plays at Binghamton at 7 p.m. Saturday and a third game, if necessary, will be played at the same time Monday.
"It really sucks that it went that way, but at the end of the day I think we saw that we can play with these guys and it's just not a walkover series," Wolves forward Trevor Grasby said.
The tale of the tape for the series was certainly one-sided entering the night as Binghamton had won seven of the eight meetings between the two teams in the regular season, including the previous six encounters.
The Black Bears opened the scoring 6:27 into the game as Scott Ramaekers took a pass in close and beat Colgan five-hole.
Former Wolves player Gavin Yates followed with a power-play goal at 9:57 as positioned right at the left post just to the right of the goalie, he lifted the puck past Colgan to build a 2-0 advantage.
"I think the start was an example of us giving them too much respect," Grasby said. "That first period, after that first goal we didn't exactly have many chances, but we fought back and showed we could play with them and when we start playing with them it's a whole new game."
The Wolves, whose first shot of the game came seven minutes in, were outshot, 16-5, in the opening period.
After killing off a two-man advantage and the rest of the ensuing power play, the Wolves broke through by scoring on a 5-on-3 man advantage on a power-play goal from Lord.
Lord scored from the right faceoff circle, wristing the puck past goalie Connor McAnanama with 3:56 left in the second period.
The Wolves came close to tying the game in the final minute of the period while on a two-man advantage, but Lord rang a shot off the crossbar as the buzzer sounded to end the period.
Watertown, which carried 3:25 of power play time in the third period with Austin Thompson off for a double-minor, drew even on Gaeta's goal 19 seconds in as he scored on a blast from the left side to beat McAnanama.
After the Black Bears reclaimed the lead on the shorthanded tally from Stubbs, the Wolves were unsuccessful on the rest of the power play.
Coachman was encouraged by his team's grit after yielding the two goals early in the game.
"It's just wanting the puck more, having a little more heart out there and battling," Coachman said. "We're a little bit of a younger team compared to them by I think about two years. They have a lot of guys carried over from last year's championship team and we have a lot of guys who haven't played in the playoffs before. So it's just about getting through that adversity."
After being outshot 16-5 in the first period, the Wolves picked up the pace and applied more pressure in the middle frame as the Black Bears forged only a 12-11 edge in shots.
"I think the only change wasn't really a schematic change, it was just a matter of knowing that we can go with these guys because they're human, too," Grasby said. "Yeah, their full of skill and full talent, but once you take their time and space away, like the approach is just going hard. Go hard the whole game and outwork them."
Now the Wolves hope they can continue to stay within reach of Binghamton while facing a win-or-go-home scenario Saturday night.
"That's the beauty of it, it's a quick turnaround and all you need is two (wins)," Grasby added.
"I think we showed we had our moments there throughout the game and now we've got to play a full 60 (minutes) and win a game," Della Civita, a rookie defenseman, said. "And for a team like us whose pride and joy is hard work and effort, we've really got to stick to that as best we can, starting tomorrow and get it done."
Binghamton has beaten Watertown in the first round of the playoffs for the past two seasons, winning each series in a two-game sweep.
"We've got to get to work, right? It's a best of three series for a reason," Coachman said. "We have to come out just swinging tomorrow and go win in their barn, it's tough, but we've got to do it. And then come out Monday and do the same thing."
Coachman, who took over as head coach in December, replacing previous coach and general manager Charlie Pens, Jr., is in his second stint coaching the team and also won a pair of league championships with the team as a player.
"It's a good series, it's going to be physical all the way through, we knew what we got ourselves into," rookie Della Civita said. "Binghamton is a great team, they're in first for a reason and they play a full 60 minutes in 10 gears and just keep going hard. We've got a big one tomorrow and we're hoping to bounce back."
Watertown, which finished fourth in the division, defeated fifth-place Motor City, 4-2, on Tuesday night in a division wild-card playoff game to advance to the first round.
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