MLN - THE RAW FEED - www.mlntherawfeed.com -BINGHAMTON, N.Y. – Alexander Nikulin assisted on both of the  Binghamton Senators goals in regulation, and then sealed the victory  with a shootout goal as the Sens topped the Hershey Bears 3-2 in a  pivotal matchup Friday night at the Broome County Veterans Memorial  Arena. Netminder Jeff Glass turned away 27 shots in regulation and  overtime before stopping all four shootout attempts by the Bears.
 
 
 
 By earning the extra point Binghamton moves one point closer to  catching Hershey (38-30-1-6, 83 pts.) for the fourth and final  playoff spot in the East Division. The B-Sens (34-29-8-5, 81 pts.)  are two points back with five games remaining.
 
 
 

ADVERTISEMENT  After a scoreless first period, Kyle Wilson gave the Bears a lead  early in the second frame with a power-play goal. The Sens fired  back just over three minutes later when Nikulin picked up his first  assist on the night. Nikulin fed the puck back to Lawrence Nycholat  who fired a shot from inside the right point that was redirected  past Bears netminder Frederic Cassivi by Scott May.
 
 
 
 The Bears jumped out in front again at 6:32 of the final stanza,  when Chris Bourque snuck a wrist shot through traffic and past Sens  goalie Jeff Glass. Binghamton would answer back again, this time  Nikulin stickhandled through a crowd and tapped the puck to the  front of the net where defenseman Matt Kinch slid a backhander past  Cassivi.
 
 
 
 After nothing was settled in the five minute 4-on-4 portion of  overtime, the two teams went to a shootout, where Glass stopped all  four Bears shooters to earn his 15th win of the year. Niko  Dimitrakos added the second shootout marker for Binghamton, tying  him for the league-lead with eight shootout goals.
 
 
 
 The pair of helpers for Nikulin make him the B-Sens second leading  scorer (50 pts) behind captain Denis Hamel (54 pts). Also, with his  goal tonight May extends his scoring streak to six games (4+4=8) and  now has 10 points in the nine games since he returned from injury.
 

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