BINGHAMTON -- Two goals by Bates Battaglia could not help the Crunch sustain any momentum and the penalty killing unit allowed two goals to the tenth-ranked Binghamton power play en route to a 6-3 loss to the Senators Saturday night at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena.
After last night’s convincing 5-2 victory over Adirondack, the Crunch came out looking to take more division points from the arch-rival B-Sens.
This game did not start the way the Crunch wanted when Dan Fritsche took a tripping penalty just 28 seconds into the opening period, putting Binghamton on the attack.
It took the B-Sens just 40 seconds to capitalize on the man-advantage when Denis Hamel muscled his way to the front of the net and re-directed a Martin St. Pierre centering feed past Kevin Lalande for the 1-0 lead.
Binghamton continued to dominate the first half of the period and ended up with a total of 22 shots, a season-high against for the Crunch, and ironically, the same number of bids the Crunch put up in the first stanza last night vs. Adirondack.
The Crunch eventually regrouped and gained some momentum as the period went on.
That momentum swing helped the Crunch tie the game at the 14:01 mark.
Hard work down low behind the net and along the boards led to Alexandre Picard working the disk to the front of the net, where he found Jared Aulin.
Aulin unleashed a wrister that he tucked under the crossbar past Binghamton starter Chris Holt to knot the contest at 1-1.
The game stayed that way until eight minutes into the second period when Craig Schira took the puck along the right side boards, swooped around the net, came out in front and roofed a shot over the glove of Lalande to put Binghamton back on top 2-1.
The Crunch once again battled back to tie the contest, this time on a shorthanded goal by Bates Battaglia at the 16:07 mark.
Battaglia took a pass down the left wing from Nick Holden, skated in and let go a sharp-angle shot that found daylight between Holt’s arm and body to make it 2-2.
The Senators quickly took the lead back with their second power play marker of the contest when Josh Hennessy re-directed a Drew Bannister point shot at the 17:52 mark.
Binghamton wasn’t done, however, and took its first two-goal lead of the game when Hamel flew in down the right wing and backhanded a bid past Lalande to extend it to 4-2 with 24 seconds left in the period.
The game turned ugly at the end of the period when the teams got together and penalties were handed out. That altercation ended with a total of six players receiving game misconducts, including the Crunch’s Lalande, Picard, Simon Ferguson and Jon Mirasty.
The Crunch made it a game again on the power play, when Battaglia’s snapper from the slot beat Holt through traffic to cut it to 4-3 with eight minutes left in regulation.
Any promise the Crunch gained from that tally was quickly thwarted just 32 seconds later, when Eric Condra’s wrister from the right circle beat Dan Taylor, who replaced Lalande to start the third period.
St. Pierre added an empty-netter with 58 seconds left in the game to ice it for Binghamton.
CRUNCHABLES: Bates Battaglia’s two goals was the first time a Crunch player scored twice in a game all season…The Crunch set a season single-game high with 81 penalty minutes…Syracuse put a season-high 46 shots on goal…Binghamton registered 45 shots on goal for the second time this season against the Crunch.
Earlier in the day, the Crunch announced that the Columbus Blue Jackets have assigned center Derek MacKenzie to the Crunch. In addition, the club has recalled goaltender Dan Taylor from Gwinnett (ECHL).
MacKenzie, 28, has appeared in 11 games with the Crunch this season, tallying three goals, nine assists and 10 penalty minutes. He has also skated in 16 games with Columbus this year, notching one goal and three assists.
Over past three seasons, MacKenzie has appeared in 137 games with the Crunch, recording 50 goals, 60 assists and 106 penalty minutes. He is currently tied for second on the club’s all-time list in shorthanded goals (8). In 514 career AHL games with the Crunch and Chicago, MacKenzie has accumulated 133 goals, 161 assists and 547 penalty minutes.
In addition, MacKenzie has skated in 62 combined NHL games with Atlanta and Columbus, registering three goals, five assists and 30 penalty minutes. A native of Sudbury, Ontario, MacKenzie was selected by Atlanta in the fifth round, 128th overall, in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft. He was signed by Columbus as a free agent on July 11, 2007.
Taylor, 23, has appeared in 13 games with Gwinnett this season, going 7-4-2 with a 3.32 goals against average, .908 save percentage and one shutout.
A native of Plymouth, England, Taylor was selected by Los Angeles in the seventh round, 221st overall, in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft. He was signed by the Crunch to an AHL contract, October 1, 2009.
Courtesy: Syracuse Crunch
