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As Penguins fans, I think we can all say we have been there before.

Blood rival in a playoff game. Their best player sinks an OT game winner to deliver a heartbreaking loss. So you come back the next day, and it seems that everyone is against you, including the referees.

For Binghamton Senators fans, I think that is how they are feeling this Sunday evening.

The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins take a 2-0 series lead with a 3-2 win on the Southern Tier of New York and can sweep the series Thursday in Wilkes-Barre. It seemed at times that referees Jon McIsaac and Jamie Koharski were wearing Penguins jerseys with orange arm bands with some of the so-so calls being made against the home team, which incited the ire of the faithful at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena.

Or maybe Binghamton played undisciplined and the Penguins played sound, calm cool hockey. Who knows. I guess it depends on what team you pull for.

One lineup change to note the Penguins way. Chris Collins was in for Dominik Uher. For a more in-depth reason as to why the change, may I direct you to the great Jonathan Bombulie’s blog recap.

Turns out though, that the Collins swap for Uher was money in the bank. Collins scored a goal in the second period of the game that broke a 1-1 tie. It had appeared, to that point, that the B-Sens were slowly gaining enough momentum to make a series out of it, but then Collins fools everyone in what Bombulie described as a no look shot that absolutely fooled everyone in the arena, especially starting goaltender Nathan Lawson.

Jeff Zatkoff was astounding once again. He lets in a goal on a rush late in the first when Matt Puempel finds himself in the high slot after a pass and he shoots it blocker side on him. Earlier, Riley Holzapfel finished off a goal mouth scrum on the back end of a Derek Grant double minor for a high stick.

Warren Peters had an excellent game as well, blocking shots, winning face-offs, clearing pucks, etc. He scored with 1.9 seconds left in the second to put the Penguins ahead 3-1 at the time.

Penguins would be the beneficiaries of the whistles of McIassac / Koharski with an extended 5-on-3 power play in the third period, but they could not score on it.

Stephane Da Costa for Binghamton got close twice in the game, drawing iron on two separate occasions including once late in the third. Chris Wideman scored late on a power play with Lawson pulled but the Pens held on and took command of the series and will look to end it Thursday.

B-Sens kept the top line of Kolarik-Smith-Holzapfel pretty much in check all night but for the goal scored by Holzapfel on the back end of the double minor late in the first. Assists from Sill, Megna, Gibbons with goals from Collins and Peters is about as balanced of a scoring effort that you can ask for, in my opinion.

If you happened to be wondering who the teams are that came back from down 0-2 in the best of five, wonder no more. The great Tim Leone has it covered for you. (hint: he’s only doing this because Hershey is up 2-0 on Providence in their series)

I will be back this week with a look at the other series in the East and West and what could be shaping up for the Penguins in Round 2, provided we don’t see a repeat reversal of 2005. I think we will know quick, especially if that Game 3 goes three overtimes. Binghamton doesn’t have anyone named Armstrong though.

Let’s Go Pens!

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Other teams hate him. Says he’s too flashy. Celebrates too much.

He scores goals. He plays for the Penguins. Go ahead, try and stop him.

I am talking about Chad Kolarik, who scored two goals tonight for the Penguins including the overtime game winner, as the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins go on to beat the Binghamton Senators 3-2 in overtime in this best of five series.

Game 2 is tomorrow afternoon at 5:05. The second game in a five game series is the most important one in the series. The series comes back to Wilkes-Barre with the Pens up two games to none or split with new life for the B-Sens.

Jeff Zatkoff vs. Nathan Lawson – Cody Wild took warmups but he and Chris Collins were among the regulars scratched.

First Period: The Penguins jumped out of the gate and controlled every aspect of the game. B-Sens would get the puck in, a defender is there to take it off him and it’s back out. Puck possession. Puck possession. Puck possession. Brian Dumoulin passes to Brian Gibbons who taps it past Lawson to make it 1-0 Pens. Gibbons was everywhere early. B-Sens don’t register a shot on goal until 5:54 remaining in the period. Then, the Pens force a turnover behind Lawson’s net, find Kolarik who cuts to the slot and snipes it home for a 2-0 lead. B-Sens late and on a power play score when Penguin killer Shane Prince backhands a shot past Zatkoff to bring things to 2-1.

Second Period: Pens looked to have all the momentum when they find themselves on a 5×3 with 1:28 but three seconds later it gores to 4×3 when Derek Nesbitt high sticks a B-Sen off the ensuing faceoff. No dice with the penalties. Penguins continued puck possession.

Taking this to a second paragraph. The puck possession I talked about earlier? Gone. Shifted completely over to the Binghamton side like the teams were on a see saw. They had every bit of the chances and it was a matter of time before they scored and sure enough Mark Stone forechecks Philip Samuelsson backwards and takes the puck from him and scores to tie it. Absolutely back breaking goal at the time.

Third Period: Pens bend but don’t break. Both club gets a chance on the power play. The Brian Gibbons Breakaway of the Game™ was seen but Lawson made the save. On to…..

Overtime: Zatkoff with some unreal saves. Kolarik ends it from the top of the slot.

Three Stars: 3) Nathan Lawson (30 saves on 33 shots) 2) Jeff Zatkoff (34 saves on 36 shots) and 1) Chad Kolarik (2 goals, +2)

Have worried that the goal scorers that we have would ball up and fade away like last season but Trevor Smith had two assists, Riley Holzapfel had an assist and Kolarik two goals. Derek Nesbitt chipped in with an assist too. One game does not a playoffs make.

Game 2 is at 5:05 tomorrow. Gameday for that is up at 1 p.m.

One final note before I go, Beau Bennett was scratched in Pittsburgh’s final regular season game. Will he be sent back to get playoff action? Time will tell.

Get ready for Binghamton’s best tomorrow.

Let’s Go Pens!