BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — The Syracuse Crunch started a three-in-three weekend with a stumble in Binghamton, losing to the Senators, 5-0, Friday at the Floyd L. Maines Veterans Memorial Arena, the worst Crunch loss of the season.
Darren Kramer snuck a shot past
Andrei Vasilevskiy 5:20 into the first and started a four-goal period for the Senators. Binghamton tallied its next three goals in a seven-minute stretch, starting with Matt Puempel 12:19 into the first. Buddy Robinson extended the lead to three one minute later. Shane Prince added the fourth goal in the final minute of the period on the power play.
After giving up an early second-period goal to Max McCormick, Vasilevskiy was pulled, having allowed five goals on 19 shots.
Kristers Gudlevskis saved all 21 shots he faced, blanking the Senators in his relief effort. Andrew Hammond earned his seventh win of the season and second shutout, stopping 18 Crunch shots.
Chris Wideman, the Sens leading scorer, had two assists for 32 points on the year. Ryan Dzingel also had two helpers and was a game-high plus-4.
The first period saw two altercations, including a large scuffle in front of the benches that led to opening-goal scorer Darren Kramer receiving a game misconduct for inciting the incident with
Mike Angelidis. Following the second goal of the game,
Eric Neilson dropped the gloves and fought Guillaume Lepine.
Binghamton finished 1-for-3 on the power play and Syracuse went 0-for-2.
The contest marked the AHL debut for Syracuse's 22-year-old defenseman Charlie Dodero and Binghamton's 39-year-old forward Todd Bertuzzi, a veteran of 1159 NHL contests.
The Crunch travel to Bridgeport to face the Sound Tigers for the first time this season in back-to-back contests Saturday and Sunday.
Vladislav Namestnikov returns to the Crunch lineup after being reassigned by Tampa Bay Friday.
