Just 24 hours after a disappointing shootout loss, the Binghamton Senators bounced back nicely on Saturday with a 5-1 win over Rochester.
The offence came from Shane Price, Andre Benoit, Mark Stone, Jakob Silfverberg and Mike Hoffman while Robin Lehner was sharp in goal. Luke Richardson's team now has three days off before returning to the ice on Wednesday night.
With another impressive win in the books, we welcome back Don Rieber for his take on the game. Before I turn it over to Don, just wanted to take the time to thank him for sharing this game summaries during some down time for the site.
It's nice to be able to tune out the CBA nonsense and focus on the good things that are happening down on the farm. Over to you, Mr. Rieber.
B-Sens Bounce Back Against Rochester
The Binghamton Senators rebounded nicely from Friday’s 6-5 shootout loss to the Rochester Amerks. They scored two first period goals and never looked back, en route to a 5-1 victory in front of 3,667 at the Broome County Arena.
“We were real happy with our game, especially the first period,” Binghamton coach Luke Richardson said. “I think we set the tone and the tempo of the game. We really skated hard and played smart in the first period and obviously we got some good results.”
The B-Sens got goals from Shane Price, Andre Benoit, Mark Stone, Jakob Silfverberg and Mike Hoffman in the win. That was more than enough for netminder Robin Lehner, who stopped 34 of 35 shots and earned his 10th win of the season
Prince opened the scoring with 4:05 left in the first period with a very patient goal. He got the puck from Cole Schneider, walked in, went around a downed defender and roofed it over the shoulder of Amerks goalie Connor Knapp.
“It was a really good pass by Schneider cross-ice,” Prince said. “I was actually looking for Patty Cannone on the back door but the D made a good slide and my only choice was to shoot the puck. It was a nice goal.” For Prince it was his fifth tally of the season and second against his hometown team. He scored against them on back on November 17th, also in Binghamton.
“It’s exciting, but it’s just like any other goal,” he said when asked about scoring against the team he grew up rooting for. “I’m happy to help the team on any given night and it’s a good way to start the game tonight.”
Schneider and Andre Benoit earned the assists on the Prince goal.
Benoit would extend Binghamton’s lead 1:45 later when he beat Knapp 20 seconds in to a B-Sens power play. Brian Flynn was in the box for holding. Silfverberg earned an assist on the play and has points in five straight games. Patrick Wiercioch got the second helper and has a streak of four straight with a point.
Binghamton led 2-0 lead as time expired in the first period. They also held an 18-9 advantage in shots.
In the second period, the Binghamton penalty kill was on duty nine second in, as Benoit sat for holding. Not long after the referee blocked an attempted clear with his leg, Binghamton’s Corey Cowick sacrificed his body, taking a hard shot himself. He got up limping, but made it to the bench. Blocking shots has been a big part of the B-Sens success this season on the penalty kill and Saturday was no exception.
“He sacrifices for the team, that’s his role,” said Richardson of Cowick. “He’s a hard-nosed player and when he has a chance to play on special teams, he doesn’t wanna lose that opportunity and he does whatever he can to help the team. Tonight was just another example of that.”
Cowick got some time to rest that leg at the 12:39 mark, when he was tagged with 10-minute misconduct for abuse of officials. There was no minor penalty to go with it, so it did not afford Rochester a power play.
With 1:07 left in the period, Rochester finally got on the board with a goal from Jerome Gauthier Leduc, closing the gap to 2-1.
It took only 14 seconds for Binghamton to regain that two goal cushion, when Mark Stone knocked in the rebound of a Derek Grant shot, making it 3-1 with 52.4 seconds left. Eric Gryba earned the second assist.
The shots advantage for Binghamton stood at 26-18 as the second period came to a close.
Rochester started the third period with five consecutive shots, but Lehner was up to the task.
It looked like Binghamton added to their lead with 12:19 to go as there was a scramble in front of Knapp and the puck got behind him, but even with sticks whacking away at it, he somehow kept it out. Rochester’s Joe Finley did earn a cross-checking penalty on the play.
It would turn into a 5-on-3 situation when T.J. Brennan was called for slashing, giving Binghamton 1:37 with a two-skater advantage.
The Finley penalty would expire, but Binghamton added to their lead with Brennan still serving. Mike Hoffman had a shot go off the post and then off Knapp’s arm. Silfverberg was there to scoop up the loose puck and knock it home.
“You just have to keep on working hard and when you do that the bounces come,” Silfverberg said. “That’s what kind of happened today. The first assist I got, I had a shot off my knee and the puck bounced straight on my blade; Benoit was wide open.”
That gave Binghamton a commanding 4-1 lead and Hoffman would put the cherry on the sundae with a steal and a pretty goal, going high on Knapp with 1:34 left, to make it a 5-1 game.
Knapp absorbed the loss in net and watched his record drop to 1-5 on the season. He was credited with 32 saves.
