Ceci, Hoffman Lead B-Sens Over Amerks 3-2 in OT

Cody Ceci nets his second game winner in OT and Mike Hoffman scores two goals as the B-Sens win their fourth game on the road in Rochester 3-2 Friday night. Rookie netminder Andrew Hammond turned in his best performance of his season to earn his second win. It was a pretty evenly matched game as the Senators would end up on top. The two teams will again play each other Saturday night for the rematch in Binghamton.

GAME RE-CAP

• 1st period

Rochester gets on the board early as Mike Zigomanis throws the puck in at Hammond as he misplayed it for Phil Varone to push in the rebound for the goal. Bingo seemed to tie things up moments later as Mark Stone‘s quick pass attempt went off of Darren Kramer‘s skate while he was standing in the slot only to have the ref wave it off as he thought Kramer kicked it in. Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Buddy Robinson and Shane Prince pressing getting some nice looks as Bingo picks up the tempo. Ben Blood can’t handle passes as it jumps over his stick to center ice twice in the period. Matt Hackett nice glove save on Cole Schneider‘s shot. Chris Wideman throws a mild hip check and gets called for interference on Luke Adam. Rochester now on the pp with Hammond making some good saves. Sens pest Kramer draws Amerks attention by tapping Hackett’s glove after the whistle. Binghamton draws a penalty with a few seconds left in the period that will carry over into the second for their first pp opportunity. Shots are 17-11 Amerks.

• 2nd period

Senators get nothing going on the carry over pp. Dave Dziurzynski and Drew Bagnall rough it up in the corner and each get roughing calls. Four on four hockey as Wideman fires it from the blue line and Hackett can’t control the puck as Freddy Claesson also can’t find the handle to drive home the rebound. Tight game as both goalies are playing well. Stephane Da Costa stole the puck and beats Hackett with a wraparound as the puck slithers on the goal line but not in. Rochester excellent on their forechecking. Sens score as Schneider feeds Hoffman for a snap shot from the right circle that beats Hackett glove side. Sens on the pp as the first unit comes out consisting of Schneider, Da Costa, Prince, Hoffman and Wideman. Sens control and break through as Da Costa passes to Hoffman open in the middle and Mike let it rip with his lethal wrister that slips under the crossbar past Hackett for 2-1 lead. That is Hoffman’s team leading seventh goal. However, lead is short-lived as less than a minute later Nick Crawford threads a quick pass to Matt MacKenzie and he needles it in off the right post to forge a tie game. Sens end the period on their 3rd pp that will carry over into the third. Shots are 24-22 Sens as they out shoot Rochester 13-5 in the period.

• 3rd period

Sens don’t score as they would get a bit sloppy in their own end. Stone give away as Hammond covers up. Rochester playing well as Hammond gets beat but Wideman pushes the net off it’s bars and gets the delay of game penalty. Sens excellent on the ensuing pk. Corey Cowick hits Chad Ruhwedel into the boards with no call and Frederick Roy comes after Cowick as the two fight with Cowick being the victor over the much smaller Roy. Ceci leads a 2-1 break and fires it off of Hackett. Sens take it up a notch and playing well but can’t beat Hackett. Heading to OT as Bingo gets a point. Shots are 34-32 Sens.

• OverTime

Sens control the four on four play and they would nail down the bonus point. Tyler Eckford makes a perfect cross ice pass to Ceci and he fires a bullet off the blue line that beats Hackett down low and scores for the gamer. That is Cody’s second game winning goal in OT as the B-Sens are 3-0 in the extra session.

NOTES

– Pretty evenly matched game as both teams had good scoring chances and decent goaltending. This was easily Hammond’s best effort of the season.

– Binghamton winds up 1-4 on the pp while league leading Rochester was 0-2.

– Stone returned and looked good. Made some fine passes and had a few scoring opportunities. Didn’t look out-of-place after missing five weeks with a shoulder injury.

– Jim O’Brien was scratched as he is now day-to-day but skating. Also scratched were Andre Petersson, Jakub Culek, Troy Rutkowski but all three are ready to play.

– I can already hear the ‘You Can’t Hack It’ jeers for Saturday nights rematch as Hackett most likely won’t be starting  but will hear it just the same from the hometown fans.

3 STARS OF THE GAME

• #1 Hoffman (2 goals)
• #2 MacKenzie (1 goal)
• #3 Hammond (34 saves)

—————

HIGHLIGHTS

NEXT GAME

Saturday Night vs Rochester Americans