WILKES-BARRE, PA. – Michael Blunden scored the lone tally as the Binghamton Senators fell 4-1 to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins inside Mohegan Sun Arena in the team’s first meeting of the season.
Blunden struck first with his second goal of the year with seven minutes to go in the opening frame. Following a clear down the ice, Blunden picked up the puck from Penguins’ goaltender Tristan Jarry behind the net and wrapped around before Jarry could get back into the crease. The goal was unassisted as B-Sens took the 1-0 lead into the locker room outshooting their host 9-6.
The Penguins took the lead during the second period scoring two goals over a two-minute time frame. Jake Guentzel got the home team on the board after sending home a shot from inside the blue line, through a screen of players and right past Matt O’Connor’s right side. Chad Ruhwedel and Tom Kostopoulos picked up assists on Guentzel’s third goal of the year. Kostopoulos took advantage of a Penguins’ power-play opportunity at the 17:56 mark of the period by putting home a rebound off of O’Connor’s pads after an initial shot from Ruhwedel inside the blue line. The B-Sens went into the final intermission trailing 2-1 and being outshot 15-6.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton solidified the 4-1 win with another pair of goals in the final period. Garrett Wilson scored his first of the year on a three-on-one opportunity just over five minutes into the third period with assists going to Oskar Sundqvist and Josh Archibald. Eight minutes later, Sundqvist rocketed home his third of the year from the face off circle with an assist from Wilson.
The B-Sens return home tomorrow night to face the Rochester Americans at 7:05 p.m. Fans can tune in on U.S. Country 96.9 FM, 680 AM, iHeartRadio’s website and mobile app, and AHL Live.
