B-Sens blow 5-0 lead; lose to Syracuse in OT

10/20/2012 (Updated 10/21/2012 12:28:10 AM)

BINGHAMTON -- The Binghamton Senators hosted the Syracuse Crunch at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena on Saturday in a rough and tumble game between the East Division rivals that saw a total of 152 penalty minutes doled out between the two teams.  Although the B-Sens held a 5-0 lead in the second period, the Crunch rebounded from the deficit to take the game in overtime, 6-5.

The B-Sens started off strong, netting two goals in the first period just under two minutes apart.  Mike Hoffman tipped in Jakob Silfverbergs rebounded shot on a power play at 7:25 to put Binghamton on the board.  Pat Cannone followed up with a goal at 9:18.

Binghamton continued to add to their lead in the second period.  Tyler Eckford scored his second goal in as many games on a power play at 1:35.  Derek Grant stretched the lead to 4-0 at 2:51.  Mark Borowiecki then gave the B-Sens their largest lead of the night, burying a goal at the 6:35 mark. 

Following a pile-up in the Binghamton crease near the halfway mark of the second, starting goaltenders Robin Lehner and Syracuses Riku Helenius would drop their gloves prior to handing over their playing duties to Nathan Lawson and Dustin Tokarski respectively.

The goaltending change seemed to swing the momentum in favor of the Crunch, who put up two goals in the second half of the period.  Cory Conacher put his team on the board at 10:29, then defenseman Mark Barberio followed that up with a power play tally at the 12:36 mark.

The Crunch continued to control the scoreboard in the third period.  Brett Connolly and Ondrej Palat scored goals at 6:57 and 8:21 respectively to bring their team within a goal, 5-4.  J.T. Wyman then found the net with just 3:42 remaining in the period to send the game into overtime.

Richard Panik put the game away for the Crunch with just 1:16 remaining in overtime.

Final shots favored the Crunch, 42-27.  Lehner ended the night with 16 saves on 16 shots.  Lawson would stop 20 of the 26 shots he faced, taking the loss for the B-Sens.

The B-Sens travel to Hershey tomorrow to face the Bears at 5 p.m. 

(Courtesy: Binghamton Senators)