Senators' Prospect Roundup

The Binghamton Senators took a long bus ride last week down to Norfolk, Virginia. Evidently, by the time they took to the ice Friday night, they were still a little sore. It would be nice to be able to write off the shellacking that was the 7-0 loss to the Admirals as being out of sync after five days of not playing any games. Unfortunately, the Admirals had the same length of time off, but came out ready to skate on Friday night.

As reported by Joy Lindsay, Binghamton named Mark Parrish captain of the B-Sens during this past week. Parrish is obviously the most experienced player on the team, and has been performing so far this season. Along with a four-point night last weekend, including an overtime winner, Parrish followed up well this weekend, scoring a good breakaway goal with the 'C' on his jersey. Read a little more to find out how nice it was. Then, take the jump, and read some thoughts on the world of Binghamton prospects generally.

Norfolk Admirals 7, Binghamton Senators 0

This was simply not Binghamton's game. From the outset, they looked disorganized and, after a short time, disheartened. The B-Sens did not give Lehner any protection, as he faced 38 shots before being removed in favor of Mike McKenna, who unfortunately did not fare any better. Norfolk, for their part, moved the puck very well in the offensive zone. Over the course of the night, Binghamton developed the nasty habit of collapsing low around their own goal. The result was a glut of players surging up the ice at once- there were no outlet passes once they regained the puck. Binghamton was outshot. Badly. 38-8 through forty minutes of play. 53-14 by the end. This game was ugly , and it looked like Binghamton was going to have to put in a near opposite effort, with less than a day's turnaround, in order to not have it feel like a longer bus ride on the way home.

Binghamton Senators 3, Norfolk Admirals 2 (SO)

Binghamton came out stronger, and somehow looked to be a revitalized bunch. Critical was getting off to a stronger start, which they did. Aside from early chances, Binghamton had the first goal of the game of the game off a Mark Parrish breakaway. On the powerplay, Patrick Wiercioch made a tremendous stretch pass to send his captain in alone. Nobody misses the two-line pass rule. Andre Petersson notched his first goal in the Senators organization. He was pressing on a few chances early on in the game, and looks to be getting more accustomed to the North American game. Robin Lehner led all B-Sens in points on the night, and yes, you read that correctly. Lehner had two assists on the night, although the first one was stopping the puck behind the Binghamton net. The B-Sens nearly coughed the game up in the second and third, but Lehner followed up his two-point first period with a two-period shutout.

A few points on the prospect update, and a teeny bit of conjecture on my part. Okay, maybe a lot of conjecture:

• Shane Prince is back in the lineup, and producing.
• Looks like it may have been a bit of a tough start for Ottawa's second first round pick, Stefan Noesen. Although moving along at close to a point-per-game clip, Noesen has been out of the lineup since the 13th with injury. He is also a -9. The Whalers were a team -6 when Noesen became injured.
• Matt Puempel, drafted with two of the Senators' second-round picks, also known as the third first round pick, is rolling along in Peterborough. Also playing for the Petes is the Nashville Predators' first rounder in 2010, Austin Watson.
• Jakob Silfverberg has been putting up some points in the SEL.
• Speaking of Sweden, hockey, and Senators' prospects, seeing Silfverberg's productions is a reminder of how much of their season has been played. I remember this being one of Silfverberg's concerns if he were to be sent back after training camp; a big chunk of the season passes one by. Something to keep in mind when considering Mika Zibanejad going back to Sweden.
• There was a fair amount of surprise expressed by the fairly Senators-centric crowd I follow on Twitter, when Kaspars Daugavins was called up this morning, instead of Nikita Filatov. I do not share the surprise, or think it particularly weird. Daugavins will be gone at the end of the season if he does not get an opportunity to play in the NHL. He has also played well enough to merit the promotion, at least from my vantage point. I expressed the same in this space last week. He has earned his keep.
• Louie Caporusso has put up three assists in as many games in Elmira. I hope he gets a call back to Binghamton because, well, I want to see him play.
• Marcus Sorensen is playing in Skelleftea's junior club. Am I the only one who thinks SuperElit sounds better than Elitserien?