BINGHAMTON, N.Y. – Zack Stortini, Max McCormick, and Phil Varone all scored in a 4-3 loss to the Syracuse Crunch on Friday night in front of 3,220 fans at Floyd L. Maines Veterans Memorial Arena.
The visiting Crunch struck early to take a 1-0 lead after Adam Erne took the puck down the right side of the ice in the offensive zone and cut across the top of the right wing circle. The forward lifted the puck over the right shoulder of Matt O’Connor just 1:59 into the game. Jeremy Morin and Jake Dotchin were credited with assists. Michael Bournival doubled Syracuse’s lead almost eight minutes later after backhanding a loose rebound over the left shoulder of O’Connor with assists from Gabriel Dumont and Erik Condra.
Bighamton cut the lead to 2-1 during a power play with less than five minutes to play in the opening frame. Michael Kostka set up Casey Bailey on the left side who then took a shot that looked to be stopped by Crunch goaltender Adam Wilcox. Zack Stortini found the loose puck that snuck through Wilcox’s pads and put home his first of the season. The first period came to an end with the B-Sens trailing 2-1 and being outshot 11-9.
Syracuse began the second period on the power play and cashed in on the man advantage just 0:39 after the puck dropped. Matthew Peca took a pass from Joel Vermin and played a wrist shot off the right post for a 3-1 Crunch lead. The visitors struck again 25 seconds later after Gabriel Dumont put home a rebound after the initial stop by O’Connor.
Binghamton refused to give up and responded with a goal of its own to move the score to 4-2. Buddy Robinson started a rush from his own end out to the neutral zone and fed Kyle Flanagan down the ice who started a two-on-one rush with Max McCormick. Flanagan fed McCormick across the hash marks who then let go a one timer that beat the goaltender Wilcox low. The tally was McCormick’s first of the year and came 6:11 into the second. The middle frame came to an end with Binghamton leading the shots 12-5.
Just 4:03 into the final period, Phil Varone made his presence known during his first home game to pull the B-Sens within a goal. Varone fired a shot from inside the left circle after moving down the left wing side that beat the Crunch goaltender Wilcox. The goal was Varone’s first of the year with Vincent Dunn and O’Connor picking up the assists. Despite a strong final push, the B-Sens fell 4-3 to the Crunch in their first meeting of the season.
The B-Sens finish their busy week on the road tomorrow night to take on the Hershey Bears at 7:00 p.m. Fans can tune in on U.S. Country 96.9 FM, 680 AM, iHeartRadio’s website and mobile app, and AHL Live.
