BINGHAMTON, NY. – The Binghamton Senators built a 3-1 and 4-2 lead in the second period but fell to the visiting Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in front of 3,727 fans at Floyd L. Maines Veterans Memorial Arena on Monday night.
The B-Sens opened the scoring on a power-play opportunity 5:03 into the first period courtesy of Michael Kostka. Chris Rumble sent a pass along the blue line to Kostka who ripped a slap shot past Casey DeSmith and around the net to give Binghamton the early lead. Jack Rodewald picked up an assist on Kostka’s first goal of the year and extended his own point-scoring streak to four games.
The Penguins tied up the game with less than seven minutes to play in the opening frame after captain Tom Kostopoulos notched his ninth goal of the season. Kostopoulos beat Matt O’Connor from the goal line after a flurry of action around the net with help from Jake Guentzel and Teddy Blueger. The teams went to the locker room tied following 20 minutes with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton outshooting Binghamton overall 13-9.
The B-Sens and Penguins combined for five goals over the middle frame with the home team coming out with a 4-3 lead at the end of it all. The first goal came from Michael Blunden at the 6:07 mark of the period. Nick Paul came up on a rush and connected with Blunden on his right side who then let a rocket fly from the faceoff circle for his fourth goal of the year. Ben Harpur was awarded an assist on the captain’s goal.
Binghamton took a two-goal lead 14:01 into the period following Chris Carlisle’s second goal of the year. Phil Varone sent the puck to Guillaume Lepine who found Carlisle across the ice. Carlisle let a wrister go from the left faceoff circle to give the B-Sens a short 3-1 lead.
The Penguins answered with a goal just 24 seconds after Carlisle’s to make it a one-goal game. Guentzel skated up the lane alone on a breakaway chance against O’Connor and beat him with a backhanded shot for his first goal of the night. Danny Kristo picked up the lone assist on Guentzel’s thirteenth goal of the year.
Another back-and-forth scoring sequence took place over a 51 second span with less than four minutes remaining. Rodewald continued his goal-scoring streak with his eighth of the year after skating hard down the left wing side and beating DeSmith’s blocker. Chad Nehring and Rumble assisted on the B-Sens’ fourth goal of the night.
Oskar Sundqvist quickly took advantage of an odd man rush to score his thirteenth goal of the year with help from Garrett Wilson and David Warsofsky. The final goal of the period pushed the B-Sens lead to 4-3 despite being outshot 28-19 overall.
The visiting team scored two unanswered goals over the final 20 minutes to take the lead and game from Binghamton. Wilson made quick work to tie the game 11 seconds into the period after Sundqvist set him up for his sixth marker of the season.
Guentzel broke the tie and secured the game with his second goal of the night after Stuart Percy helped him get the puck past a screened O’Connor on a power play at 3:35 for a 5-4 advantage.
O’Connor finished the night with 34 saves in the losing effort while DeSmith picked up the win stopping 24 shots.
The Binghamton Senators are back at home for Western Wednesday, December 28, when the Toronto Marlies come to town for the first time this season. The Executive Office will be open to purchase tickets on Tuesday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Wednesday from 8:00 a.m. until the second intermission. Fans can tune in on U.S. Country 96.9 FM, 680 AM, iHeartRadio’s website and mobile app, and AHL Live.
