If few saw it, does it really count?  Well, it does now with these highlights of the Binghamton Senators defeating the Rochester Americans.  The Amerks lost their fifth straight game last Saturday night in Binghamton.  I just noticed I never wrote a postgame report, here’s a little something with video highlights courtesy of the B-Sens.  The Amerks came out flat and paid the price.  Binghamton is missing players just as much as the Amerks so the only excuse was that Binghamton had more talent.

There’s one common trend of goals scored against the Amerks, the opposition is splitting the defense or getting fast breaks.  That brings up the question, who’s doing what wrong?  Lack of communication?  Skill?  Goaltending not making big saves?  Time will tell.

Here’s the Amerks press release with a recap:

The lone Rochester goal in the loss was scored by Corey Tropp, with assists going to Phil Varone and Brayden McNabb. Netminder Drew MacIntyre was strong in goal for the Amerks, finishing with 27 saves between the pipes.

The Senators were led offensively by Pat Cannone, Jim O’Brien and Mike Hoffman, each of whom contributed a goal apiece. Veteran goaltender Mike McKenna turned away 33 of 34 Rochester shots to earn first-star honors.

After both teams were unable to find the back of the net through the first half of the contest, Binghamton struck at 11:11 of the middle frame with the man-advantage for a 1-0 lead. Cannone took a backside centering pass off the stick of Derek Grant from behind the net and jammed the puck inside the left post. The tally was Cannone’s third of the season and second in as many games.

MacIntyre came up big for Rochester just under two minutes later, as he stacked the pads to deny Mark Parrish on a penalty shot after the Senator’s co-leading scorer was tripped up on a breakaway.

The Sens doubled their lead to 2-0 early in the third period at 2:40, as O’Brien finished-off a nice individual effort while shorthanded. After eluding the Rochester defense with a curl-and-drag move, the 22 year-old forward found himself in alone and beat MacIntyre.

Rochester finally got on the board and cut its deficit in half near the midway point of the final period as Tropp netted his fourth of the year. Linemate Varone fired the initial shot towards the Binghamton net, and the puck found its way to Tropp‘s stick, who made no mistake in depositing it behind McKenna.

Binghamton responded less than three minutes later to restore its two-goal cushion, as Hoffman capitalized on a breakaway just after he exited the penalty box. A clearing attempt by the Senators defense caromed around the glass to center ice, sending Hoffman in alone and he placed a wrister just inside the left post past MacIntyre.

The Amerks are on the road again this Friday in Binghamton, Saturday in Syracuse and back home against Syracuse on Sunday.