B-Sens Win Their Sixth In A Row As Amerks Can’t Hackett

Rochester’s goaltender Matt Hackett returned to Binghamton for his first game since he played for the Houston Aeros in the 2011 Calder Cup Finals and he was welcomed with open arms as the fans rang out in unison “you can’t hack it” chants throughout the night that stirred memories of that Senators Championship series. As for the game, Binghamton wins their sixth in a row and third over Rochester in as many games 7-3 as Buddy Robinson and Corey Cowick each scored two goals and goaltender Andrew Hammond made 31 saves holding the fort down for the good guys in red.

GAME RE-CAP

• 1st period
  

Game starts and the fans already “you can’t hack it” chants right away to set the mood.  Cowick gets a chance in the slot with a spin around shot as Hackett makes the save. Rochester cutting down the lanes and Bingo can’t get anything flowing. Matt Puempel has the best opportunities as Hackett is there for the stoppage. Rochester is controlling play and they would score shorthanded as defenseman Michael Sdao would fall after taking a shot as Mike Zigomanis races down the right side to score for the early 1-0 lead. Sens playing some sloppy hockey. Andre Petersson with a give and go with Jean-Gabriel Pageau fail to beat Hackett. Sens shorthanded as Pageau finds Mark Stone alone in the slot and he also can’t get it by Hackett. Sens excellent on killing off the ensuing penalty. Hammond plays a pretty sound period making 12 saves. However, some adjustments need to be made after the first as Sens are not playing their usual crisp type of hockey. Shots are in favor of Amerks 13-10.

• 2nd period

Binghamton’s Puempel rang one off the post. Cowick scores poking in the rebound of Wacey Hamilton‘s shot.  Chants start to get louder as the fans try to get inside Hackett’s head to throw his game off. It seems to be working as Mike Hoffman then scores his team leading ninth goal as he also pounces on a rebound into the open net while Hackett was way out of position as Amerks players were standing around. Rochester would go on the pp as Sens are effective in killing it. Luke Adam springs free all alone and Hammond stands firm and denies Adam. All Sens as they are controlling the tempo of the second period. Hoffman slips the puck to Stephane Da Costa for the score as he slides it underneath Hackett for a 4-1 lead. Hackett again makes a nice save on Petersson. DaCosta rings it off the crossbar as Cole Schneider can’t get free enough to tag the puck in. Robinson gets in a mini fight with Drew Bagnall and doesn’t really amount to anything. Robinson tries but can’t fight. Bingo scores four unanswered goals in the period. Shots are 20-6 B-Sens.

• 3rd period

Hammond starts out with a nice save on Brayden McNabb. Amerks Joel Armia would score his first goal of the season with a wrister past Hammond’s stick side off the post to cut the Sens lead to two. Bingo is playing some solid defense. Stone whiffed on a pass from Puempel and shakes his head in disgust. Hammond really bad play as he attempts to clear the zone up the middle only to have it picked off by Amerks player for a scoring chance. Shane Prince gets the biscuit goal by racing for the puck after the faceoff and fly’s by the Amerks to go in alone and dekes out Hackett for the score to make it a 5-2 game. Crowd amps up the chants at Hackett. Rochester’s Zigomanus gets his second of the night with a shot past Sdao and under Hammond to again cut the lead to two. Cowick has a huge hit to Jerome Gauthier-Leduc. Rochester goes on the powerplay with just over three minutes left in the game. Hammond stands strong in net. Rochester pressing as they pull Hackett to make it a 6-4 advantage at the two-minute mark. Hammond makes a perfectly timed leg save on Armia as the puck rolls free to Hamilton on the side boards who saucers it to Cowick for the empty netter. Robinson then earns his second of the night as he easily beats Hackett to make it a 7-3 contest. Shots are 15-8 Amerks and for the game 38-34 Binghamton.

NOTES

– Hackett comes out leading his team on the ice for the third period and knocks into the cameraman. He then proceeds to take a swig of water and unloads on the plexiglass at the same cameraman. What a guy. No wonder we pound him hard in Bingo.

– Hammond continues to improve as he earns his third win in a row tonight. It’s taken some time for his adjustments to kick in from playing in college to the pros but Andrew’s starting to settle in. He’s holding his positional play better and hasn’t wandered around outside the net like earlier on this season. I’ve been pretty hard on him but he’s slowing growing on me.

– Rochester just let Hackett hang out to dry as player’s just standing around watching plays develop. Sens were really hungry after the first period and just zoned in on Hackett by scoring four unanswered goals in the second. Maybe the chants rattled other than Hackett’s cage tonight.

3 STARS OF THE GAME

• #1 Hoffman (1g 1a)
• #2 Da Costa (1g 1a)
• #3 Robinson (2g)

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HIGHLIGHTS

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Friday Night vs. Adirondack Phantoms