The Binghamton Senators traveled to Rochester Friday night to take on the Americans in the front end of a home-at-home series.
It was a back-and-forth battle that saw Rochester blow two one-goal leads and Binghamton coughed up a two-goal third period lead, before falling in a shootout 6-5 to the home team.
Ben Bishop started in net for Binghamton and had 36 regulation saves, but it was a less than stellar beginning for him, as Rochester scored twice in a 28-second span during the first period.
The first goal came on the power play, with Binghamton’s Corey Cowick off for hooking. Cody Hodgson hit crossbar with a shot and the puck went to the corner. Rochester kept possession and Hodgson got it back, passing To Evan Rankin in front. He went high on Bishop and gave the Amerks a 1-0 with 9:18 gone in the first period.
That goal snapped a streak of 23 consecutive penalties killed for the league’s second ranked penalty- kill unit.
The second goal was credited to Luke Adam as he shot a puck in on Bishop that was inadvertently tipped by Binghamton’s Mike Hoffman. Bishop looked to have it under his glove, but it somehow trickled over the goal line and just like that, it was 2-0.
The B-Sens answered with 19.3 left in the period on a Hugh Jessiman goal. He was able to beat Amerks’ goalie David Leggio, to cut the Rochester lead to 2-1. Cowick and Patrick Wiercioch got the assists.
Binghamton had 15 shots in the period, while Rochester managed 12 in the first 20 minutes.
Tyler Eckford kept the momentum going for Binghamton, as he scored 4:43 into the second period on a shot from the right circle that may have been tipped by a Rochester skater. David Dziurzynski and Derek Grant earned the helpers on the tying goal.
It took less than five minutes for the Amerks to answer, as they got a goal from their captain Kevin Porter, who sent a rocket by Bishop and just under the crossbar, making it a 3-2 with 10:50 left in the period.
The answer came 4:19 later when Jakob Silfverberg stole the puck at center and came streaking in on Leggio. He let a cannon shot go and it found the back of the net, tying things up 3-3. For Silfverberg, it was his team leading 10th tally of the season.
The B-Sens earned their first lead of the night at the 16:42 mark when captain Andre Benoit and Jean-Gabriel Pageau teamed up on a nice give-and-go. Pageau got the centering feed to Benoit banged it home to make it 4-3. Hugh Jessiman got the second assist.
The second period would end with that one goal differential and Rochester holding a 25-24 lead in shots.
Stephane Da Costa looked to give Binghamton a two-goal lead when he caught Leggio out of position and had a wide open net to shoot at. He was a fraction of a second late and that was just enough time for Leggio to come diving across the crease and make the save, with 13:01 left in regulation.
Rochester’s Phil Varone picked up a hooking call with 11:10 left, giving Binghamton their third power play of the night. It took just eight seconds for Patrick Wiercioch to skate in and beat Leggio from the side of the net. It was a tough shot that caromed off of Leggio’s leg and in.
That gave Binghamton a 5-3 lead with 11:02 left and they looked to be in pretty good shape.
Unfortunately, that cushion wouldn’t last long. The Amerks would score twice in a 49 second span, with goals from T.J. Brennan and Kevin Sundher to knot things at five. For Sundher, not only was it the game-tying tally, but it was his first professional goal.
The Binghamton penalty killers went back to work late in the period, killing off two Rochester power plays. They were successful on four of five Friday night.
Regulation ended with the Amerks holding a 39-37 shots advantage. Each team managed two shots in a fairly uneventful overtime period, setting up the shootout.
Goals by Silfverberg and Hoffman had Binghamton out to a 2-0 lead in the shootout, but Rochester would answer with Brennan and Marcus Foligno beating Bishop to keep the Amerks in it.
Jessiman, Eckford and Shane Prince would come up empty for Binghamton; while Hodgson scored in the bottom of the sixth round to give his team a 3-2 win in the shootout and a 6-5 edge on the scoreboard.
The loss snapped a modest two-game win streak for Binghamton, but they did earn a point in the standings.
Binghamton (15-6-1-2) will host Rochester tomorrow night at the Broome County Arena. The “I survived Doomsday” celebration will feature live music, an appearance from Santa and more. Game time is set for 7:00 p.m.
