The red hot Binghamton Senators continued to cruise along last night with a convincing win over the Adirondack Phantoms in American Hockey League action. The 7-4 decision was the seventh straight win for the BSens and comes ahead of a big showdown with against the Syracuse Crunch, the only team ahead of them in the East Division, set for Sunday at 5:00 PM.

With the NHL season rapidly being destroyed by CBA madness, Bryan Murray’s decision to keep Mika Zibanejad from joining Sweden at the World Juniors counts as significant news. Yesterday, the Senators GM announced that the club would not be releasing Zibanejad from the Binghamton Senators of the AHL and will instead, allow Zibanejad to continue his adjust to the North American game under Luke Richardson and the rest of the staff in Bingo.

Luke Richardson has the Binghamton Senators on a heck of a run lately.  Winners of six straight, the BSens have caught the attention of fans around the AHL and in hockey-starved Ottawa. While the team continues to rely on lights out goaltending from Robin Lehner, and the occasional gem from his back up Ben Bishop, the offence has shown signs of improvement of late, as the team has been able to roll four lines that can all contribute in the attacking end.

While Bill Daly suggested earlier today that he expects the league and the players to resume negotiations at some point this week, there are currently no formal talks scheduled. As reported first by Pierre LeBrun, both the NHL and NHLPA have agreed to allow a Federal mediator to oversee CBA negotiations.  Where things go from here is still obviously unpredictable but it can’t hurt to have a mediator involved at this stage in the process.