B-Sens Pre-Game: At Rochester Americans

Binghamton starts out their three game weekend with a home-and-home series with the Americans starting tonight at 7:05 pm faceoff at the Blue Cross Arena in downtown Rochester, NY. The Senators look to carry over last season’s dominance over the Amerks as the two long time city rivals square off for the first of eight match-ups. The Sens will have a full, healthy squad as coach Luke Richardson will make line ups a challenge that is a rare luxury to have. For the Amerks, defenseman Alexander Sulzer (lower body) and forward Kevin Porter (muscle strain) will be out.

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(6-4-0-0) 12 pts

4th in East Division

VS.

(5-2-1-1) 12 pts

3rd in East Division

Projected B-Sens Lineup*

-Forward Lines

Schneider-DaCosta-Hoffman

Prince-Pageau-Robinson

Dziurzynski-Stone-Kramer

Cowick-Hamilton-Puempel

–Defensemen

Eckford-Ceci

Claesson-Wideman

Sdao-Blood

–Goaltenders

Lawson / Hammond

-Pre-Game Notes

– Rochester is coming off a 5-3 home victory over the Hamilton Bulldogs Wednesday night. Meanwhile the Senators last played Saturday night in Bingo with a 4-2 win vs. Syracuse Crunch.

– The Amerks take over 1st place on the pp with 28.9% while Bingo fell to 3rd at 26.3%. Sens are 80.8% on the pk good for 21st spot while the Amerks are in 28th position with 75%.

– Amerks goaltender Matt Hackett returns to the Southern Tier for the first time since his Houston Aeros were defeated in the 2011 Calder Cup Finals 4-2 to the B-Sens. Fans would set a friendly reminder to the netminder throughout the Arena in Game 4 and 5 with chants of  ‘You Can’t Hack It’ that will forever be instilled into the minds of the Binghamton faithful. Does Rochester coach Chadd Cassidy dare allow Hackett to step foot on the Arena ice for Saturday night’s game in Bingo?  I don’t see it happening, but it would spark some memories for the home fans to start that chant back up in unison and rattle his cage a bit during the game if he starts.

– Will recently emergency re-called goalie Nate Lawson return from Ottawa in time for tonight’s game? If not, Elmira Jackals Scott Greenham will be called up to back up Andrew Hammond. UPDATE: Lawson has been returned to Bingo.

-3 Key Players To Watch For

Rochester: Forwards Phil Varone (2g 11a 9gms) and Luke Adam (8g 4a 9gms), Defenseman Brayden McNabb (2g 8a 9gms).

Binghamton: Forward Mike Hoffman (5g 5a 10gms), Defensemen Cody Ceci (1g 7a 10gms) and Chris Wideman (1g 6a 9gms).

-Bingo Scratches

Injured: Forward Jim O’Brien

Healthy: Defenseman Troy Rutkowski, Forwards Andre Petersson, Jakub Culek and Ludwig Karlsson.

-Head to Head Results

Senators end up winning last season’s series 6-1-0-1 while outscoring the Amerks 26-18.

-Media

Tune into iHeartRadio for audio and streaming online.

-B-Sens Tweet of the Day

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-Last Game’s Highlights (3-9-13)