A stint of seven games in 10 nights for the Binghamton Senators gave birth to a franchise-record streak of being shut out for almost 219 minutes of ice time.

After coming off 3-0 and 9-0 losses to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Hershey, respectively, the B-Sens continued to struggle to score goals during another 3-0 loss against the Toronto Marlies on Nov. 18.

B-Sens goaltender Brian Elliott was able to stop 35 shots against Toronto, but couldn’t withstand a power-play barrage due to several Binghamton penalties that lasted for most of the second period.

“We were careless with our sticks and ended up behind the eight ball quickly,” said Cory Clouston, head coach of the B-Sens.

A possible reason for the scoring slump was the fact that the B-Sens were playing without their top line of Ilya Zubov, Ryan Shannon and Zack Smith. All three were called up to Ottawa during this stretch.

“We’ve had those three call-ups and a few injuries, so other players need to step up and fill in the gaps for scoring,” Clouston added.

The following night’s matchup against the Philadelphia Phantoms signaled the end of the scoring drought with a 4-3 overtime loss, as Binghamton’s Josh Hennessy was able to put a puck past Phantoms goaltender Jean-Sebastien Aubin in the second period. Hennessy’s goal was able to spark a comeback for the B-Sens during the period, which included a penalty shot goal scored by Rob Sirianni. However, the Phantoms prevailed in the extra minutes with a late goal by Claude Giroux.

To close out the weekend, the B-Sens traveled to Syracuse, and earned a 2-1 victory with the help of a pair of goals by Hennessy. Elliott stopped 34 of 35 shots on the night.

After a weekend of playing three games on three nights, the team received two days off before playing another four games in five nights.

The first game was in Hershey on Wednesday, Nov. 26, where the B-Sens were once again unable to defeat the Bears in a matchup that resulted in a 4-1 loss. Hennessy continued his point-scoring surge with an assist on the lone B-Sens goal by defenseman Brian Lee. The difference-maker in the game was that Hershey was able to stop Binghamton’s power play, ranked No. 1 in the league, on six attempts.

The B-Sens then returned home to play the Albany River Rats the next night only to fall again with a 3-2 shootout loss.

Denis Hamel was able to add a goal in the effort, which began a point-scoring streak that would last over the next several games. Peter Regin also scored his first goal with the team.

After a rest day, the B-Sens managed to beat the Hamilton Bulldogs, 3-2, in a game where Hamel and Regin were able to continue their point-scoring streaks.

The next night the B-Sens were able to beat Hamilton a second time by a score of 5-3 in a game played at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, home of the NHL’s Montreal Canadiens. Hamel scored yet again, and Mattias Karlsson and the returning Zubov had three-point games in front of a crowd of over 14,000 fans.

The B-Sens then returned to Binghamton and had five days off, before matching up against Bridgeport on Friday, Dec. 4. The end of their last matchup was filled with controversy, and history repeated itself as this game ended with another controversial ruling over a 6-5 Bridgeport shootout victory. Bridgeport was able to jump out to a quick lead in the first period, as B-Sens goaltender Brian Elliott let in three goals on six shots. A back-and-forth game enabled Bridgeport to lead 5-4 going into the final minutes of play, but Ryan Shannon was able to tie the game up with 26 seconds left on a power play goal. The game ended when Hamel had an attempt in the shootout in which he had to score to keep the contest going, but the refs declared that his shot didn’t go in the net. However, Hamel believe the puck actually went through the net, due to the trajectory of the shot.

Coach Clouston also believed it was a goal, adding that “our division is so tight you can’t have those mistakes go against you.”

On Saturday night, the B-Sens traveled to Philadelphia to play the Phantoms once again, but lost 5-2. Similar to the previous night’s game, goaltender Jeff Glass was replaced during the first period after the team found themselves down 3-0.

After another five days of rest, the B-Sens played the Portland Pirates at home and achieved a 2-1 victory. Elliott stopped 34 of 35 shots, while Hamel and Greg Mauldin scored for the B-Sens.

“It’s great to have those 2-1 wins. When you win in tight games like that, it’s a character win,” defenseman Matt Carkner said, after his first game back from an injury.

Elliott was able to rebound from the game against Bridgeport where he was pulled early.

“It has a little fire inside your belly there, and you just want to take pride in how you play. That’s what I tried to do tonight,” Elliott said.

Over the past several weeks the team has been heavily involved with the community. During the five-day rest period, numerous members from the team read books to children in local schools.

Brendan Bell has also been playing with Ottawa in the NHL, and had a two-point game on Dec. 3, against the Atlanta Thrashers.