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 another Bingo win in the books, we welcome back Don Rieber to give us his take on last night's game. The floor is yours, Don!
Binghamton’s lucky number is seven, in Friday win over Phantoms
The Binghamton Senators rolled to their seventh straight victory on Friday night, with a 7-4 win over the Adirondack Phantoms at the Glens Falls Civic Center.
Goaltender Ben Bishop made 44 saves on 48 shots as he earned his third straight win. His counterpart at the other end, Scott Munroe, allowed four goals in the first period alone and was pulled with 2:58 to go in that period. He was replaced by Cal Heeter.
Andre Benoit scored twice to lead Binghamton, his sixth and seventh goals of the season and Derek Grant got his seventh on an empty-netter with just over a minute to go in the game.
The game was fast-paced right off the hop, as Binghamton struck with another early lead, as Pat Cannone split the Phantoms defense with 2:01 and gave Binghamton a 1-0 lead, 2:01 into the game. Jakob Silfverberg was credited with the assist.
Binghamton’s Hugh Jessiman was called for tripping at the 3:43 mark and that was follows by a tripping call against Bishop, as he misplayed a puck behind the net and had to rush back in. The end result was 12 seconds of 5-on-3 power-play time for the Phantoms.
As has been the case in many games this season, the B-Sens were not fazed by the calls. Jessiman came out of the box, trailed by Binghamton captain Andre Benoit. Jessiman passed it off and Benoit ripped it home, making it 2-0 Binghamton. The goal was the seventh shorthanded tally this season for Binghamton and came with 14:09 left in the period.
It took a lucky bounce for the Phantoms to get back into the contest, just over 2½ minutes later as the puck was sent in and hit a glass support and dropped in front of Rob Bordson who spun and fired the puck past Bishop, making it a 2-1 game with 8:28 gone in the period.
The B-Sens got that two goal lead back after Zac Rinaldo was called for closing his hand on the puck. It took just six seconds for Mike Hoffman to find the back of the net, making it 3-1. It looked like Hoffman took the original shot and it was tipped in front, but they gave the goal to Hoffman and Benoit got the assist at the 11:46 mark.
The Phantoms were able to answer over two minutes later, when Sean Couturier sent a pass from behind the net to Harry Zolnierczyk, as Bishop was caught out of position and just like that, it was 4-2.
A wild sequence followed a few minutes later, when Bishop was run into by Tye McGinn, which was not taken kindly by Binghamton second-year defenseman Mark Borowiecki, who came to Bishop’s defense. They both went for fighting and McGinn was given an extra two for goaltender interference. The curious call was given to Bishop for diving.
When all was said and done, it was a Binghamton power-play and it took just four seconds off the face-off, for Benoit to get his second lamp lighter of the night. Jessiman and Hoffman assisted on that goal and it was a 4-2 B-Sens lead with 2:58 to go in the period.
That was the end of the night for Phantoms starter, Munroe.
Adirondack got a late 5-on-3 power-play, as Benoit was called for high-sticking and Bishop picked up an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for questioning the call. It was Bishop’s third penalty of the period and he was not shy about voicing his displeasure.
The B-Sens got through the period without allowing a goal and killed off the final 12 seconds of the penalties at the beginning of the second.
It was a three-point first period for Benoit, with two goals and an assist. The Phantoms held the shots advantage, 16-7.
The Phantoms had a much better second period as they got goals from Bourdon and Zolnierczyk before the halfway point of the period and it was a tie game, 4-4.
The Bourdon goal came on the power-play, after Binghamton was called for too many men. The Zolnierczyk goal came shorthanded, after Binghamton was unable to convert 45 seconds of 5-on-3 time. It was the first shorthanded goal given up by Binghamton.
Mark Stone scored the final goal of the period with 5:29 left in the period as he snuck in and poked home a pass from David Dziurzynski.
The Phantoms held a 32-19 lead in shots after two, but it meant little with Binghamton leading by one goal.
The B-Sens clamped down on defense in the third period and with a late power-play for the Phantoms, they pulled Heeter to make it a 6-on-4 advantage. Binghamton took advantage of an empty net, as Derek Grant pulled the trigger with 1:01 left, to make it 6-4. Patrick Wiercioch earned the only assist.
With Heeter back on the ice, Jakob Silfverberg took just nine seconds to beat him over the glove hand, giving the visitors a 7-4 lead and in turn, their seventh straight win.
It was a big night for the offense, as Benoit had a three-point night, as did Mike Hoffman (1 G, 2 A) and Silfverberg with a two-point night, (1+1).
With the victory, Binghamton improved to 11-4-1-1 and will next face the first place Syracuse Crunch in a 5:05 face-off on Sunday at the Broome County Arena.
