BINGHAMTON, N.Y. –The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins’ special teams efforts failed as the franchise-record 11-game winning streak came to an end. The Binghamton Senators gutted out a 3-1 win over the AHL-leading Penguins at Floyd L. Maines Veterans Memorial Arena on Friday night.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton came into the game with the league’s top power play, while Binghamton’s penalty kill sat in dead last. However, the Penguins could not convert on 
six man advantages in the game, including a three minute major power play in the first period and a late-game five-on-three.
“Special teams was the difference tonight for me,” said Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan. “Normally, our power play is a difference-maker for us. Tonight they weren’t… I look back to the five-on-three. That’s huge. We need to score there. That’s the game in our hands, right there. Our power play didn’t get it done.”
Binghamton’s Mike Kostka scored the first goal of the game and his first of the season with a power play marker at 2:29 of the first period.
It was just the sixth time the Penguins allowed a goal while shorthanded all season, but the third time of the six that the Senators were the team cashing in.
Cole Schneider scored to make it 2-0 in favor of Binghamton by tipping a Kostka shot into the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton net at 18:19 of the first after the Senators successfully killed three minutes of a major penalty. 
Simon put the Penguins on the board at 16:26 of the second period to put the score at 2-1 by burying a behind-the-net feed from defenseman Tim Erixon.
David Dziurzynski sealed the win for Binghamton with a point-blank, empty net goal with 1:14 remaining in the game to make the score 3-1.
The loss brings Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s record to 12-2-0-0 in 2015-16, but most notably ends the team’s 11-game winning streak. With their most recent loss now behind them, Sullivan and the Penguins look to turn the tides back in their favor in their next game. 
“I don’t like to reflect on anything midseason,” Sullivan said. “I’ll reflect on [the streak] when I have time over the summer. Right now, we’re not worried about what’s happened, we’re worried about what’s ahead of us.”
What’s ahead of the Penguins is the season’s first match-up with the Albany Devils at The Times Union Center on Saturday evening. Game time between the Penguins and Devils is scheduled for 5:00 p.m.
GAME NOTES
Chris Driedger made 40 saves in net for the Senators, while Matt Murray stopped 28 of 30 for the Penguins.
Simon’s goal kept him in a tie with Albany’s Joseph Blandisi four fourth place in AHL rookie scoring. Both players have identical six-goal, eight-assist stat lines.
The Penguins had a three minute major power play following two minutes of four-on-four hockey after the Senators’ Guillaume Lépine earned a five-minute fighting major and a 10-minute game misconduct for dropping the gloves and throwing punches on an unwilling combatant on Dominik Uher. Uher had just been booked for goaltender interference before the altercation with Lépine.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton managed to reach its second highest shots on goal total of the season in the loss, outshooting Binghamton 41-31.
With WB/S game report
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