B-Sens Game Day Preview: Host Syracuse Crunch
By Jeff Ulmer
The Sens and Crunch grind it out for game two tonight at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena for a 7:05 pm faceoff. Last night’s game in Syracuse saw Binghamton come out on top winners by a score of 6-2 game as B-Sens netminder Nathan Lawson made 40 saves. The offense is also stepping up as the Sens have scored ten goals in the last two games, both on the road. This will be game three out of the first five games of the season between the two rivals. The AHL recognizes a division rival and made adjustments to the schedules as both teams will now play each other two more times than last season for a total of 10 game between the two squads.
(3-1-0-0) 6 pts
3rd in East Division
(1-2-1-0) 3 pts
4th in East Division
Projected B-Sens Lineup
-Forward Lines
Hoffman-Zibanejad-Petersson
Puempel-Da Costa-Robinson
Dziurzunski-O’Brien-Prince
Cowick-Hamilton-Kramer
–Defensemen
Borowiecki-Ceci
Claesson-Wideman
Blood-Rutkowski
–Goaltenders
Lawson / Hammond
-Pre-Game Notes
-The Crunch have struggled offensively but out of five Russians on the team three of them are dangerous with the puck, (Nikita Kucherov, Vladislav Namestnikov and Dmitry Korobovill) and could start to make a big difference as the season moves along. The other two are Defensemen Artyom Sergeyev and Nikita Nesterov. Forward Brett Connolly is still up with Tamp Bay on re-call but defensiveman J.P. Cote returned for last night’s game and was ineffective.
-Friday night’s contest saw the B-Sens pp improve as puck possession was there for the most part. The specialty teams still needs work as they currently sit in 20th spot in the AHL with a 12.5% on the pp. The pk isn’t much better at 72.7%, good for 28th spot out of 30 teams.
– Luke Richardson has not yet named the starter for tonight’s game. It’s a tricky one for the coach to make as Lawson has seen action in all of the Senator’s first four games and he’s on a roll vs. Hammond needing some work. I see Nate getting the start tonight and Andrew in-goal at Bridgeport on Sunday. Update: Lawson starts tonight.
– Forward Shane Prince will be in the line-up tonight after sitting out the last two games as a healthy scratch.
-3 Key Players To Watch For
Syracuse: Forwards Kucherov (4g 2a, 4 gms) and Namestnikov (2g 3a, 4 gms), Defenseman Matt Taormina (1g 4a, 3 gms).
Binghamton: Forwards Mika Zibanejad (1g 3a, 4 gms) and Mike Hoffman (2g 1a, 4 gms), Defenseman Chris Wideman (4a, 4 gms).
-Bingo Scratches
Injured: Mark Stone, shoulder. Jukab Culek undisclosed.
Healthy: D-Men Tyler Eckford and Michael Sdao, Forward Cole Schneider.
-Head to Head Results
Binghamton has won the first two meetings this season with the latest being on Friday night’s win in Syracuse by a score of 6-2.
-Media
Tune into iHeartRadio for audio and streaming online.
-B-Sens Tweet of the Day
Mika Zibanejad @MikaZibanejad
Nice win tonight! Get right back at it tomorrow! #allabouttheW
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-Last Game’s Highlights (10-18-13)