Despite
staging
another late-game rally, the Rochester Americans' bid for a comeback
fell just short as the Amerks dropped a 3-1 decision to the Binghamton
Senators Tuesday night at The Blue Cross Arena.
The
game marked the first meeting between the intrastate rivals since
Rochester claimed a 6-1-1-0 record in last year's season series with
Binghamton.
Amerks
captain Kevin Porter scored the lone goal for Rochester to cut
its deficit in half, but David Dziurzynski's second goal of the contest
with 15 seconds left in regulation prevented an Amerks rally to give the
Senators their second straight win of the new season.
"It's early in the season, and we have a lot of lessons to learn," said
Amerks head coach Ron Rolston. "We have to find a way to get to the net, and if we do that, we can score more goals."
After
a defensive battle in the first, Dziurzynski went top shelf off
a wrister from the left circle to give the Senators a 1-0 lead with
under two minutes to play in the opening period. Jared Cowen and Mark
Stone assisted Dziurzynski to give the Senators a 1-0 lead.
Binghamton
then took advantage of a power-play and went ahead 2-0 with
three minutes left in the second period when Patrick Wiercioch scored
his first goal of the season with a one-timer at the point that snuck
into the net. Cowen earned his second assist of the game when teaming up
with Derek Grant before sliding the puck to
Wiercioch for the goal.
Porter
brought his team within a goal as he fired a wrister off the right
post from the left wing to score his first goal of the season. Rookie
forward Zemgus Girgensons recorded his first professional point when he
and Mark Mancari hooked up for the assists on the play.
The
Amerks had an opportunity to tie the game with a late power-play thanks
to a too many
men penalty, but Dziurzynski intercepted a pass in the high slot and
sent it the length of the ice to seal the win for Binghamton with a
short-handed empty-netter.
Rochester
remains home on Friday, Oct. 19 as it hosts the former North Division
rival Grand
Rapids Griffins at The Blue Cross Arena. The 7:05 matchup will be the
first of just two meetings this season between the two teams