BINGHAMTON, NY. – Jason Akeson scored twice and Chris Driedger stopped 44 of 46 shots he faces as the Binghamton Senators defeated the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on New Year’s Eve 3-2 in front of 4,177 at Floyd L. Maines Veterans Memorial Arena.
The Penguins opened the scoring for the night just over three minutes into the game on Sahir Gill’s first goal of the year. Kevin Porter won an offensive zone faceoff and passed the puck right back to Gill who then took a quick shot from the right faceoff circle for the 1-0 lead 3:09 into the game.
The B-Sens bounced back and got on the board 7:51 into the first period during a man-advantage chance. Akeson took a feed on the blue line from Phil Varone and sent a shot through traffic past Casey DeSmith. Ben Harpur had the secondary assist on Akeson’s first goal of the year. The teams went into the first intermission tied 1-1 with the B-Sens outshooting the visitors 13-8.
Binghamton scored two unanswered goals in the middle frame to push to help maintain the lead. Akeson scored his second of the night at the 1:11 mark with help from Varone once again. Varone sent Akeson a pass from the left corner to the front of the net where the forward deflected home his second goal of the season. Chris Rumble picked up the secondary assist on the goal.
Buddy Robinson made it a 3-1 lead with his seventh goal of the season just over five minutes later. Francis Perron sent a long pass up the ice to Robinson who shot the puck top shelf from the bottom of the right faceoff circle. The B-Sens went to the locker room for the second intermission with the 3-1 lead despite being outshot 28-19.
The Penguins made a final push in the third period that resulted with one goal but eventually fell up short. Tim Erixon held the puck on the blue line during a power play and found Jake Guentzel at the top of the right faceoff circle. Guentzel sent his shot top shelf over Driedger for his 18th goal of the year, but the B-Sens managed to hold the lead and earn the win.
Driedger stopped 44 shots to earn the win while DeSmith had 23 saves in the losing effort.
The Binghamton Senators start 2017 with a home game on Friday, January 6, against the St. John’s IceCaps at 7:05 p.m. The Executive Office will be open to purchase tickets Monday to Thursday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Friday from 8:00 a.m. until the second intermission. Fans can tune in on U.S. Country 96.9 FM, 680 AM, iHeartRadio’s website and mobile app, and AHL Live.
