In a span of three nights, the Binghamton Senators experienced the good, the bad and the ugly as they transitioned from an impressive victory over the American Hockey League’s best team to their worst loss of the season.

The B-Sens traveled to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Friday for a contest against the red hot Penguins, who at the time led the AHL in wins with a 9-1-0-0 record. After the night was over, Binghamton left town with a 5-1 win, handing Wilkes-Barre/Scranton its second loss and becoming the first team to score five goals against the Penguins this season.

Binghamton goaltender Barry Brust stopped 29 of 30 shots in the victory, and the team generated a 4-0 lead before the Penguins found their way onto the scoreboard. With a pair of goals, B-Sens forward Bobby Butler became the AHL’s leading goal scorer, while Corey Locke established himself as the league’s points leader with a goal and an assist.

The B-Sens’ luck ran out when they returned to the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena on Saturday for a contest against the Toronto Marlies, who were playing their third game in three days.

Brust got the goaltending start again, hoping to repeat his performance against the Penguins, but let by two goals in the first five minutes of the game.

‘We knew coming in that they would put their best effort in the first 20 minutes because, like anything, something’s got to give in your third game in three days,’ said B-Sens forward Colin Greening. ‘Their passes were really crisp and right on.’

Binghamton rebounded early in the second period after forward Ryan Keller skated down the side of the ice and fed a backhand pass to defenseman Geoff Kinrade, who tapped it into an exposed Toronto net.

After applying more offensive pressure, the B-Sens looked to even the game at two, but gave up a goal on a Toronto odd-man rush.

‘On their third goal, we had them pinned down in their end for 3-4 minutes and then they came back and got a goal that maybe on another day that might have not gone in,’ Greening said.

Before going into the second intermission, Greening deflected a slapshot by defenseman Derek Smith to close the score at 3-2. Early in the third period, however, Toronto once again kept their distance by adding another goal to create a 4-2 lead.

With four minutes left, as Greening and defenseman Andre Benoit exchanged shots on Toronto goaltender James Reimer, Locke was able to tap in a rebound goal.

Binghamton followed the goal with a series of scoring chances, but its rally was cut short when forward Cody Bass took a hooking penalty with 1:16 left on the clock.

‘At that moment in this game, unless it’s an obvious hook or infraction, you let that one go,’ said Binghamton head coach Kurt Kleinendorst, referring to the tendency of hockey referees to only call penalties on serious late-game situations. ‘If you watch it, it was an honest play and there wasn’t a whole lot of hook there.’

The B-Sens generated a few more chances with Bass in the penalty box, but ended up losing to Toronto by a score of 4-3.

‘I don’t think anyone in the building could say [we lost] because of a lack of effort,’ Kleinendorst said. ‘The first five minutes caught up with us and after that we went at them and they ended up getting some big saves; maybe we didn’t, and there’s the difference’

Brust had a chance to redeem himself the following night in Hershey, but let in six goals on 10 shots by the Bears in the first period. The Bears jumped out to a 7-0 lead before Binghamton scored three unanswered goals, but Hershey ended up winning the game 8-3. In two games against Binghamton this season, Hershey has outscored them 15-4.

The B-Sens are scheduled to return to action for a 7:05 p.m. matchup Friday against Hershey.