Binghamton Senators Pre-Game Edition: Syracuse Crunch

The B-Sens look to end their current seven game winless streak when the face their bitter I-81 rivals in Syracuse tonight at the War Memorial Arena. The Crunch are coming off a shootout loss to Hershey by a final of 4-3. Meanwhile, the Sens look to get back on track with a complete game effort tonight to break this streak and look forward to Nathan Lawson‘s (8-4-0, 2.45) return from injury/flu and getting the start in net. Lawson is more desirous for a win as the veteran netminder has missed the last four games in two weeks while back up Andrew Hammond (6-5-3, 3.44) has been covering the puck in goal for the Senators in his absence.

(14-9-0-3) 31 pts

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

Tied for 2nd in East Division

VS.

(12-10-1-3) 28 pts

4th in East Division

B-Sens Projected Lineup

Forward Lines

Hoffman-DaCosta-Stone

Prince-O’Brien-Petersson

Puempel-Grant-Schneider

Cowick-Hamilton-Dziurzynski

Defensemen

Borowiecki-Eckford

Sdao-Claesson

New-Wideman

Goaltenders

Lawson / Hammond

Scratches

Injured Reserve: None

Healthy: Forwards Darren Kramer, Buddy Robinson and Defenseman Michael Sdao.

Notes & Observations

• Crunch netminder Riku Helenius has been dropped by the Tampa Bay Lightning as they told him his services are no longer needed. He was asked to accept an assignment to Florida of the ECHL but has declined the demotion. Helenius became the odd goalie out earlier this month when Tampa Bay brought up rookie Kristers Gudlevskis and teaming him with Cedrick Desjardins in the Crunch rotation. Helenius kept practicing with the Crunch but did not play. Senators fans will remember his fight with Robin Lehner last season.
• Veteran Jon DiSalvatore, who cleared AHL waivers on Monday afternoon, joins the Crunch after playing with EHC Red Bull Munchen in Germany’s Deutsche Eishockey Liga. Vladislav Namestnikov is still out after taking a puck to the face his last game he played against the Senators on Thanksgiving Eve. Brett Connolly will also be absent from the line up as he suffered a leg injury in Wednesday’s loss in Hershey. J.P. Cote and Nikita Kucherov are up with Tampa.
• J.G. Pageau and Cody Ceci are still skating with parent club Ottawa. That means defenseman Danny New remains with the Sens and will play in his second game since his call up from Elmira. Buddy Robinson returns to the line up after being sent down for one game to Elmira.
• Lawson carry’s weight in the young Senators locker room as the veteran is well-respected amongst his team mates. So well matter of fact, that Nate asked to travel with the club to Hershey last weekend so his presence could perhaps help out in between periods. I assumed he was denied due to his continuing recovery from that contagious flu he had suffered.
• Speaking of flu, it seems it making its way around the locker room as first Shane Prince, then Lawson, followed by Ben Blood, Matt Puempel, Kramer and now Dziurzynski resulting in missed practices this week.
• B-Sens participated in a game of dodge ball during Thursday’s practice at the Arena’s center ice as the team remains loose and upbeat. Mark Stone gave it a valiant effort as the last man standing on the losing team.

Three Cogs in the Machine

Syracuse: Forwards Cedric Paquette (7g 7a 26gms) and Evan Rankin (8g 2a 17gms), Defenseman Nikita Nesterov (2g 6a 22gms).

Binghamton: Forwards Mike Hoffman (12g 15a 24gms) and  Stephane Da Costa (7g 15a 17g23), Defenseman Chris Wideman (2g 12a 24gms).

Head-to-Head Results

Binghamton has won 4 out of 5 meetings vs. Syracuse this season as with being the last a 5-1 home win in favor of the Sens on the 27th of November.

B-Sens Tweet of the Day

Media Coverage

Tune into iHeartRadio for audio and streaming online and also on TWCS channel 23 in NYS.