Senators tame Bears, 3-1

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(binghamtonsenators.com) -– The Binghamton Senators extended their winning streak to five games as they beat the Hershey Bears, 3-1, at Giant Center in Hershey, Pa., on Saturday night.

It was the third of eight meetings between the two teams this season.

The game remained scoreless until 5:17 of the second frame, when the Hershey Bears broke the silence. Former B-Sens forward Ryan Potulny netted his fifth goal of the season bouncing it into the Binghamton net off the leg of blueliner Eric Gryba. Patrick McNeill and Jeff Taffe drew the assists.

With just 2:16 remaining in the middle period, Binghamton forward Stephane Da Costa evened the score with his fifth goal of the year. Jakob Silfverberg and David Dziurzynski had the helpers.

With 7:52 to go in the third period, forward Mike Hoffman gave the B-Sens the lead on his ninth goal of the season with assists coming from Da Costa and Silfverberg.

An empty-netter at 19:06 by B-Sens forward Mark Stone, assisted by Gryba, would seal the deal, 3-1.

Ben Bishop made 20 saves to improve to 8-3-1 on the season. Braden Holty came away with the loss for Hershey, falling to 12-11-1 after stopping 34 of 36 shots.

With the win, the Senators kept pace in the AHL’s East Division, four points behind first-place Syracuse with three games in hand. Binghamton still owns the best record in the AHL at 21-7-1-2 (.726).