Binghamton Senators Pre-Game: @ Rochester Americans

The Sens look to re-group after Sunday’s stumbling block in W-B/Scranton and make it four straight over Rochester this season in tonight’s tilt at the Blue Cross Arena as the Amerks are also coming off a loss of their own in last Saturday’s game in Hershey. Playoff chatter may be a tad early but the season is almost half way through as the B-Sens hope to cushion their one point lead in their Division and is in third place in the Eastern Conference while Rochester struggles in the Western Conference in tenth place overall.

(21-10-0-3) 45 pts

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

First in East Division

VS.

(14-12-3-3) 34 pts

Fourth in North Division

B-Sens Projected Lineup

Forward Lines

Hoffman-DaCosta-Schneider

Prince-O’Brien-Petersson

Karlsson-Puempel-Robinson

Cowick-Hamilton-Dziurzynski

Defensemen

Borowiecki-New

Eckford-Claesson

Blood-Wideman

Goaltenders

Lawson / Hammond

Scratches

Injured Reserve: Forward Derek Grant, lower body. Defenseman Mike Sdao, hand.

Healthy: Forward Darren Kramer.

Notes & Observations

• Buffalo Sabres have been hit pretty hard with injuries as Matt Ellis, Brayden McNabb, Kevin Porter and Johan Larsson are up with the top club.
• Mike Hoffman (16 23 32gms) is second in points behind Texas Travis Morin (19 27 30gms). The fourth year pro for the Sens is also tied for third in goals as well as quarterbacking the power play on the first unit. Mike is second in the AHL in power play points with 19. His pp blueline  partner is Chris Wideman (5g 18a 32gms) as Chris is at or near the top in scoring amongst all defensemen on specialty teams.
• The Senators are 6-0 in overtime games this season. The club have dominated their eleven periods of overtime play, outshooting their opponents 36-11 during the sudden death succession’s.
• Strong rumors abound that Ottawa’s assistant GM/B-Sens GM Tim Murray is in line for the Buffalo Sabres GM position as the Sabres are in a rebuilding phase. Murray carries some weight in his resume to his Binghamton ties as Calder Cup Champions in 2011.

Three Cogs in the Machine

Rochester: Forwards Phil Varone (6g 23a 32gms), Luke Adam (14g 6a 18gms) and Defenseman Chad Ruhwedel (4g 11a 28gms).

Binghamton: Forwards Matt Puempel (10g 7a 34gms), Andre Petersson (9g 9a 26gms) and Defenseman Daniel New (1g 2a 9gms).

Head-to-Head Results

B-Sens have won all three played this season out of eight scheduled. Last being a 7-3 win in Binghamton on Nov. 16.

B-Sens Tweet of the Day

Media Coverage

Tune into iHeartRadio for audio and streaming online. Also on TV @TWCS 23 in NYS.

*Cover photo courtesy of Alicia Strauch.