Albany-Binghamton Pregame Notes

What you may need to know before the Devils and Senators face off at the Times Union Center:

-Season: This is the 8th and final meeting between the two teams, with the Devils holding a 4-3 lead. Last meeting was on March 1st in Binghamton, a 3-2 victory by Albany.

-Standings: The Senators begin the day in 5th place in the East Division with a 40-29-3-4 record and 87 points. They stand 1 point behind 4th place Norfolk and 16 points ahead of 6th place Syracuse. They also hold down the 3rd playoff spot in the Atlantic Division thanks to the division crossover rule, 3 points ahead of Atlantic 3rd place Connecticut and 5 points ahead of Atlantic 4th place Worcester. Albany stands in 7th place with a 31-39-1-4 mark and 67 points, just one point ahead of 8th place Adirondack and 4 points behind the Crunch for 6th.

-Scoring: Binghamton is lead in scoring by AHL points leader Corey Locke with 86 points (21 G, 65 A), followed by forward Jim O’Brien with 55 points (23 G, 32 A). It’s a 3 man goaltending crew, with Barry Brust leading the way with 28 wins and 7 shutouts. On the home side…it’s becoming a close race at the top of the scoring list. Matt Anderson still leads the way with 52 points (21 G, 31 A), but Adam Henrique is closing in, just 3 points back with 49 (25 G, 24 A). In one of my preview last week I presented the numbers for Jeff Frazee and Mike McKenna, now that Dave Caruso is back from Trenton I’ll throw in his numbers this year here for comparison: 6 wins in 16 games, 1 shutout, .882 save percentage, 3.59 goals against. Not the greatest sounding, but you wouldn’t know it by the way he plays. I’m hoping they give him a shot today in the last of another 3 in 3 set.

Game time: 4 PM. It’s Military Appreciation Day and the last postgame autograph session of the season (and I’m out of things for them to sign). It’s Day 4 of my 9 Days of Devils event, I will of course be in attendance.