Denis Hamel’s hat trick was no treat for the Penguins, who dropped a 4-2 decision to the Binghamton Senators on Saturday night at the Wachovia Arena at Casey Plaza.
The loss dropped the Penguins’ record to 3-5-0-0 on the season, while the Senators raised their mark to 3-3-1-0.
After being shut out on Friday night by the Albany River Rats, the Penguins came out flying in the early going of Saturday night’s contest. And the up tempo game played dividends very quickly, as Kurtis McLean swatted a Ryan Stone pass out of the air with the shaft of his stick, netting his first goal of the season on the power play 3:17 into the game.
But it was Hamel and the Sens who took control from there. After being sprung from the penalty box, Jeremy Yablonski took a feed from Hamel, and deposited a backhander just inside the far post behind netminder Karl Goehring at 13:28.
Three minutes later, it was Hamel’s turn at goal. The Binghamton captain swatted Danny Bois’ tipped shot out of midair and into the cage to put the visitors in front before the first period drew to a close.
Hamel picked up the only goal of the second period, using Penguins defenseman Kris Letang as a screen to beat Goehring from the high slot at 14:09.
Letang pulled the Penguins to within one goal less than three minutes into the third period, beating Jeff Glass with a blast from the blueline that appeared to deflect off a Binghamton defender. It was Letang’s first goal with the AHL Penguins, to go along with five assists this season.
Hamel completed the hat trick by finding the empty net with 30.8 seconds to play.
Goehring, making his first start as a member of the Penguins, stopped 12 of 15 shots in the loss. Glass made 23 saves on 25 shots for the win.
The Penguins return to action next Friday night, when they take on the Toronto Marlies at the Wachovia Arena at Casey Plaza.
NOTES: Scratches for the Penguins were Ben Lovejoy and Dennis Bonvie...Attendance was 7,575
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