Prospect Update: Struggles in Bingo

The Senators welcomed Shane Prince back into the lineup after being hurt for the past two games. Unfortunately his return could not spark the Sens, as Wednesday's game was a forgettable one offensively for them. They came out flat from the beginning, and it took them until the nine minute mark to finally record their first shot on net. The Sens must have thought the Utica zone was filled with lava, as no one wanted to step foot in there.

Past the midway point of the period, defenceman Patrick Mullen took a hard hit from behind. Jean-Gabriel Pageau came in to stick up for his teammate and fought the Comets' Ronalds Kenins. Pageau received two minutes for instigating, five minutes for the fight, and a ten minute misconduct. It is definitely not an ideal situation to have one of your best players in the box for that long.

Soon after the scrap, the Comets took the lead on a goal from Niklas Jensen. The Sens had a few chances to respond, but they did not look like themselves out there all night. One of the lone bright spots was goaltender Andrew Hammond who bounced back from allowing six goals in his previous start, to stop 33 of 34 shots. Jacob Markstrom shut the door for the Comets, picking up his fourth shutout of the season. The shutout also snapped Chris Wideman's point streak at nine games.

Binghamton Senators 0 - Utica Comets 1

Binghamton Senators Record: 3-6-2

Binghamton Senators at Rochester Americans

On Friday, the Sens went on the road to take on the Buffalo Sabres affiliate, the Rochester Americans. After his solid game on Wednesday, coach Luke Richardson again turned to Andrew Hammond to take the spot between the pipes.

Rochester opened the scoring with a goal off a 3-on-2 rush from Mikhail Grigorenko to give them an early 1-0 lead.

The Sens evened the score in the second period when Ryan Dzingel ripped it home following a rebound from a Mullen point shot. The Sens carried most of the play in the second period, but couldn't find the back of the net.

Midway through the third, Carter Camper threw the puck on net from the corner. The rebound popped right out to Alex Guptill, who was ready in the slot, to bury it and give the Sens the lead. Shane Prince added some insurance with a gorgeous individual effort to make the score 3-1 while making the Rochester defence look like pilons. Hammond shut the door the rest of the way to bring their record to 4-6-2.

Binghamton Senators 3 - Rochester Americans 1

Binghamton Senators Record: 4-6-2

Binghamton Senators vs. W-B/Scranton Penguins

After a short road trip, the Sens went back home to host the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. They took to the ice in their military themed jerseys to pay respects to the troops.

For the fifth straight game, the Sens surrendered the first goal of the game off a tipped point shot on the powerplay. They responded on a powerplay of their own with a hard snap shot from Mullen to tie the game heading into the first intermission.

Some poor positioning and defensive breakdowns allowed the Penguins to rattle off three goals in the first half of the second period. After going pointless in the last two games, Chris Wideman found the scoresheet with a blast from the top of the right circle to cut the lead to two. Before the period was over, a tic-tac-toe goal on the powerplay from Wideman to Schneider to Puempel made the score 4-3.

The poor defensive play continued for Binghamton, allowing the Penguins to answer with a pair of their own in the third. A last minute powerplay slapshot from Puempel was too little too late for the Sens, as they dropped this one by a score of 6-4. After being held without a point in the past two games, Wideman got back on pace by chipping in on all of the Senators' goals (one goal, three assists).

Binghamton Senators 4 - Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins 6

Binghamton Senators Record: 4-7-2

Who Stood Out this Week:

Matt Puempel: This week, he was bumped up to a line with Pageau and played well. He started firing the puck more often, and had success in doing so in his most recent game by scoring two and picking up an assist. He has been doing a good job of knowing where to be on the ice.

The Week Ahead:

Friday, November 14 at 7:30pm. Binghamton Senators at Norfolk Admirals.
Saturday, November 15 at 7:15pm. Binghamton Senators at Norfolk Admirals.

Notable Updates from North American Prospects:

Nick Paul: He scored one goal in two games this week as his North Bay Battalion lost in Peterborough and won in Kingston.

Chris Driedger: The former Evansville starting goalie, Cal Heeter, was picked up on PTO by the Toronto Marlies this past week, released, and then he signed in the KHL. This led to Driedger seeing action with a pair of starts this week including a 39 save 6-3 win and a 31 save 5-0 loss. Hopefully he will continue to see a lot of action going forward as it will definitely help with his development process.

Tobias Lindberg: His Oshawa Generals only played once this week and Lindberg recorded a goal and two assists in a 6-1 win over Peterborough.

Francis Perron: He continues to light mups in the QMJHL with the Rouyn Noranda Huskies. He had a big week, putting up four goals and three assists in three games. He now has 12 goals and 13 assists through 18 games.