Binghamton’s Stephane Da Costa scores the game-winning goal for the Senators on the way to their 5-1 victory (All Photos Credit: M. Richter).
The Hershey Bears played two games against the Binghamton Senators (BSens) this weekend, and the results were about as different as one can get in regulation decisions. On Saturday, the Bears thrashed the BSens 5-2, with the highlight of the night being a stretch of three goals in 1:37 during the first period. Sunday saw the Mirror Universe version of the Bears on the ice, with the BSens turning a 1-1 tied game into a 5-1 blowout in the third period – with the last two goals coming just 44 seconds apart in the last minute of play.
In a brief bright spot, Caps prospect and first-year pro Patrick Wey scored his first career AHL goal tonight (assisted by Nathan Walker and Casey Wellman), which tied things up for almost fifteen minutes before the BSens pulled ahead again early in the third period. It helped to make up for the fact that he tallied the only penalty in the first period (a slashing call, which resulted in the BSens scoring just eight seconds into their power play). The goal would prove to be the only one of the night for the home team.
Penalties came a bit thicker in the second and third periods, though neither team managed a successful conversion. At 6:06, Stephane Da Costa scored to push the Senators ahead, with help from Chris Wideman & Mark Stone, and the rest was gravy.
To sum things up in photos:
To be fair, Grubauer was far from the only one who had a less-than-stellar evening. There wasn’t a single member of the Hershey roster tonight who had a positive number in the +/- column. The best anyone could lay claim to was a zero, and there were only six players who snagged that honour.
Holding Tight to the Status Quo
Unfortunately for the Bears, the 50-50 split on the weekend is not an unusual occurrence. Now sixteen games into the season, they sit at at a precise .500 winning percentage. They also have both 50 goals for and against at this point, and are ranked twelve of fifteen in the AHL’s Eastern Conference – not a place they want to stay, if they intend to see playoffs in spring. That being said, they’re also only four points out of eighth place, so there’s plenty of time for the deck to be shuffled a few more times.
