Coming off the AHL All-Star break, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins put themselves in an early hole against the Binghamton Senators and were never able to recover, dropping a 6-2 decision to their East Division rival on a night where first place was on the line.
The BSens high powered offense picked up where it left off before the break, tallying four first period goals a lopsided victory for the home team. Mike Hoffman tallied three points (2G-1A), while Andre Petersson and Stephane Da Costa each added two assists. Goaltender Andrew Hammond had arguably his best game in a BSens uniform, stopping 33 of 35 shots.
The Penguins have less than 24 hours to get ready for another road game against another East Division opponent in the Hershey Bears at Giant Center. After a game like this, I'm sure the Pens will come out with a chip on their shoulder tomorrow.
After the Penguins carried the edge in play to start the game, the BSens offense struck gold.
First on the power play, Andre Petersson found a streaking Shance Prince backdoor for an easy tap in to put the BSens up 1-0 with 8:17 gone in the first frame.
The Penguins responded 1:08 later when Spencer Machacek scored from outside of Hammond's crease after the BSens goaltender lost sight of the rebound of Simon Despres' point shot. Philip Samuelsson added a second assist, but the BSens offense proved too much for the Penguins.
Corey Cowick finished off a pass from Mark Stone and 1:27 after that Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored a shorthanded breakaway goal to put the BSens in front 3-1. That would prove to be the end of Hartzell's night, as he stopped 10 of 13 shots in 14:40 of work. Jeff Deslauriers came on in relief of Hartzell.
Reigning AHL Player of the Week and the AHL's Player of the Game at the 2014 All-Star, Mike Hoffman, made it 4-1 BSens with a power play goal in the final minute of the period, putting the Penguins in an early hole.
After a scoreless second period, the Pens started the third period with back-to-back penalties, the second of which the BSens capitalized on. Cole Scheider found a bouncing puck and beat Deslauriers to extend the BSens lead to 5-1.
Tom Kostopoulos cut the lead to 5-2 with an unassisted power play goal less than a minute later, but the BSens again responded with another power play goal, their fourth of the night, to put the Penguins away at 6-2.
ROSTER NOTES
Eric Hartzell got the start in net, stopping 10 of 13 in the first 14:40 of the opening period. Jeff Deslauriers came on in relief of Hartzell and stopped 21 of 24.
Plenty of lineup changes, with Jayson Megna, Brian Gibbons and Adam Payerl returning to the WBS lineup. For Payerl, his first game since November 30th in Hershey.
To make room up front, Tom Kuhnhackl and Pierre-Luc Leblond were the healthy forward scratches. Nick D'Agostino was the 7th defenseman and the healthy scratch.
Lines
Zlobin - Ebbett - Kostopoulos
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