Black Bears Comeback falls short in OT

BINGHAMTON- The Binghamton Black Bears fell short in overtime on Friday night against the Twin City Thunderbirds.  Binghamton scored twice in the final five minutes to force overtime, but couldn’t find the extra point. 

The T-birds opened up the scoring in the first period in a game that became a game of runs.  Josh Labelle scored at 10:09 putting the visitors up 1-0.  Binghamton answered back on the power play with Mac Jansen scoring his 22^nd goal of the season.  After one period, the two sides were square at 1-1. 

Binghamton shot out of a cannon to start the second.  Jansen barreled headfirst into the crease and knocked in his second of the night, shifting the lead in favor of the Black Bears 2-1.  This time, Twin City answered back on the power play.  Zac White scored a 5-on-3 goal, tying the game at 2-2 but two minutes later, the Thunderbirds found the go-ahead goal in Roman Kraemer at 13:54.  The away side led 3-2 after 40 minutes of play.

No body was able to score in the first 10 minutes of the third period.  It turned out to be an exciting finish as the teams combined for three goals in the final eight minutes.  Jan Salak scored another power play goal for Twin City, giving them a two-goal lead for the first time on Friday.  Things looked bleak for Binghamton, but the top line delivered in crunch time.  CJ Stubbs scored with 4:32 remaining to cut the lead to one.  With just under a minute left and after calling timeout, the Black Bears pulled the goalie and scored 6-on-5.  Ivan Bondarenko tied the game at 4-4 with 54 seconds left and overtime would follow. 

The Black Bears had chances in the extra period but found themselves on the wrong end of the power play.  After a great chance shorthanded, Labelle was able to record his second goal of the evening, ending the game in overtime.

Binghamton snaps their 22-month streak of not losing back-to-back games, as they fall in overtime 5-4 on Friday night.