Antoine Vermette scored twice and Anton Volchenkov picked up three points as Binghamton scored four times in the first 12:02 of the game and cruised to a 5-1 win over Rochester on Saturday night.
It was the fifth win in a row for the Seantors, who are now two points behind first-place Philadelphia in the East Division.
Volchenkov began the scoring at the 6:40 mark of the first period, then set up Vermette’s 11th and 12th goals of the season as Binghamton opened an early 4-0 lead. Brian McGrattan also scored in the opening frame for the Sens.
Christoph Schubert had a goal and an assist and Denis Hamel added two assists for Binghamton, and Ray Emery finished with 26 saves.
Ryan Miller took the loss for the Amerks, stopping 12 of 16 first-period shots before giving way to Tom Askey.
The setback ended Rochester’s own four-game winning streak.
Elsewhere on Saturday:
Mikhail Yakubov had a goal and an assist as Norfolk ended Hershey’s seven-game winning streak with a 3-2 win over the Bears… Philippe Plante scored a goal and added three assists to pace Hamilton to a 7-2 win over visiting Cincinnati… Lowell won its fifth straight, getting three points each from Chuck Kobasew and Colin Forbes in a 5-2 victory over Portland… Doug O’Brien‘s goal gave Springfield a 4-3 overtime win over Worcester… Ramzi Abid scored with 7:51 left in regulation as Wilkes-Barre/Scranton beat Albany, 2-1… Grand Rapids lost for the seventh straight time at home, as Darren Haydar scored twice in Milwaukee’s 3-2 win… Dimitri Patzold made 38 saves for Cleveland in a 4-2 win over Syracuse… Bridgeport saw its road winless skid hit 11 games (0-9-1-1) as Alexandre Giroux had a goal and an assist in Hartford’s 4-0 victory… Mike Cammalleri and Dustin Brown picked up a goal and an assist apiece to lead Manchester past Providence, 2-1… Josh Olson and Greg Jacina scored in the third period as San Antonio rallied past Edmonton, 2-1… Derek MacKenzie had two goals in Chicago’s 4-1 win over St. John’s.
