Syracuse Continues BSens Nightmare Of A Season
Tough times for Binghamton these days as they lose 5-1 for the 15th time in the last 17 games, this time to the Crunch.
Head coach Luke Richardson claimed earlier this week that his team had hit "rock bottom" and that continues to be the case as they lose yet another one to the Syracuse Crunch, this time by a 5-1 margin. Sens' rookie goaltender Matt O'Connor wasn't perfect, but was better as he made 24 saves and is still seeking for his first professional win in what is now been ten attempts.
And it's only the first week of December.
It seemed there was somewhat of a better effort from them tonight but the result was the same, as the Crunch got some lucky breaks, two as a matter of fact, with both coming off of a Senators' skate and stick. That would open up the scoring as Adam Erne tried to feed over to Mike Angelidis in the slot but the puck went off Ben Harpur's skate instead, as he took a dive to intercept it and it went in past O'Connor. That's how bad this club has been with absolutely no give whatsoever, nor any luck.
Sens hater Angelidis makes it a two goal lead taking a nifty pass out of the corner from veteran Jeff Tambellini and squeaks it by O'C's short side with Harpur trailing on the play. I can't put at fault for the first two goals the rookie netminder let in, but there was one he should've made. Maybe.
After an uneventful middle period, where Syracuse outshot Binghamton 16-10 with nothing to show for it, they would cash in with scoring three times on six shots in the third. Ex-Senator D-man Matt Taormina takes a cross ice pass from Angelidis and waits to deliver a wrist shot though traffic on O'Connor's blocker side for a power play goal making it a 3-0 contest. O'C was late in re-acting, perhaps he was screened. The Crunch increase the lead on a nice tic-tac-toe tally with some crisp passing that completely was too fast for any goaltender to come up with.
Senators do get on the board as Matt Puempel scores his fifth of the season up close in Syracuse's goaltender Kristers Gudlevskis door step, but the final nail in the coffin would finish the deal as Luke Witkowski shoots in front as the puck glances off of Ryan Dzingel's stick into the back of his own net as he skates away in disgust. Just like this season has turned out so far after only 20 games.
TONIGHT'S LINE-UP
Schneider-Dzingel-Puempel
Paul-McCormick-Robinson
Darian D-David D-Stortini
Flanagan-Ewanyk-Greening
Kostka-Carlisle
Mullen-Harpur
Claesson-Tuzzolino
WHO'S OUT
Michael Sdao, out. Eric O'Dell, Danny Hobbs, illness/injured. Tobias Lindberg, Ryan Penny, Guillaume Lepine healthy. Mark Fraser, 2 game suspension.
Scott Greenham back-up
POST GAME NOTES
- Sens sign Kyle Flanagan to a PTO and he played on the fourth line and was okay, rather small but fluid skater as he had some playing time up in Adirondack playing for the Phantoms. They also got back Colin Greening, who had an angry night full of testiness, trying to take out his frustrations in a big scrum towards the end of the game.
- Entering tonight's game, the club is at the very bottom of several categories including PIM's, as they had 41 compared to 26 for Syracuse. Been a season long problem that doesn't seem to get any better.
- Lindberg with yet another scratch, his third of the season. With so many player movements going on, signing PTO's and calling up Penny from Evansville, you have to wonder what's happening in that locker-room as the team struggles for answers with just about everything you can imagine under the sun. Not so much fun days for the Senators.
- Speaking of call-ups, isn't Ottawa a player short on the roster with so many injuries? I haven't checked but I could be wrong. But what is interesting is either no one is playing well enough to deserve a call-up, (hence the Greening one since there is a rather large sum of money being paid out to him), or possibly a message is being sent from up top. Start winning and you will be rewarded, which I'm sorta leaning to.
- Fraser out for two games with his hit on Albany Devils' forward Blake Coleman sending him hard into the boards in Albany on Nov 27th. Nick Tuzzolino took his place.
- BSens (5-13-2) are now one up on the Iowa Wild for the worst record in the AHL. It's been tough trying to find good things to write about the team this season, hope it gets better and hitting rock bottom will be a thing of the past real soon.
UPCOMING GAMES
St. John's IceCaps pay a visit on Saturday for the first time this season and then the team is off until next weekend.