Binghamton Senators Pre-Game Edition: Syracuse Crunch

The Crunch visit the Southern Tier region for the final time this season having lost three out of four at the hands of the Senators at the Arena. Binghamton meanwhile look to continue their winning streak to seven with a win tonight as the Crunch are coming off a 6-3 win of their own in Toronto on Friday night. Andrew Hammond (7-5-1-3) should get the start for the Sens as Kristers Gudlevskis (7-4-2-1) might go for the Crunch after last night’s win.

(20-9-0-3) 43 pts

/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter#sthash.eiDTkNPD.dpuf(8-4-0-0) 16 pts

First in East Division

VS.

(14-14-1-3) 32 pts

Tied Fourth in East Division

B-Sens Projected Lineup

Forward Lines

Hoffman-DaCosta-Schneider

Prince-O’Brien-Petersson

Karlsson-Puempel-Robinson

Cowick-Hamilton-Dziurzynski

Defensemen

Borowiecki-New

Sdao-Claesson

Eckford-Wideman

Goaltenders

Lawson / Hammond

Scratches

Injured Reserve: Forwards Derek Grant, muscle pull and Darren Kramer, hand.

Healthy: Defenseman Ben Blood.

Notes & Observations

• Energetic enforcer Pierre-Cedric Labrie is back playing for the Crunch. Labrie has only appeared in 13 games this season for Tampa Bay Lightning due to injuries. A similar move was made last season as he was sent down for a two-week conditioning stint that jump started Syracuse back into the chase last season. This time around he has cleared NHL waivers. He had a goal and an assist in Friday’s win.
• Vladislav Namestnikov is also back in the line up for Syracuse after missing 14 games due to a broken hand. He had two goals on seven shots last night.
• Syracuse has eight rookies in their current line up and one rookie is still up with Tampa Bay. Nikita Kucherov, who was tearing it up for the Crunch earlier this season, had the game winner Wednesday night over the Vancouver Canucks. Kucherov still leads the Crunch in points with 24 in 17 games played before his call up.
• Syracuse had lost five out of six and nine out of their last eleven games to free fall into the basement in the East Division before last night’s win over the Marlies. Labrie and Namestnikov no doubt makes this team much improved and might catch the Sens napping in tonight’s tilt.

Three Cogs in the Machine

Syracuse: Forwards Namestnikov (10g 13a 18gms) and Brett Connolly (6g 11a 22gms), Defenseman Matt Taormina (3g 10a 19gms).

Binghamton: Forwards Mike Hoffman (16g 20a 30gms) and Stephane Da Costa (10g 20a 29gms), Defenseman Freddy Claesson (2g 12a 32gms).

Head-to-Head Results

Binghamton owns the Crunch having won five of six contests this season between the two rivals.

B-Sens Tweet of the Day

Media Coverage

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