CREDIT: Jean Levac ott1108-sens5.jpg

With wins in their previous two games, it finally looked as if the Binghamton Senators were starting to make progress after a dispiriting start, which saw them lose six of their first eight games.

But the Hamilton Bulldogs ended Binghamton's modest two-game winning streak with a 1-0 win on Sunday afternoon at Scotiabank Place. The Senators took the first half of this NHL home-and-home series with a 2-1 win at the Bell Centre on Friday night.

The lone goal came from the mercurial and problematic Sergei Kostitsyn, who gave the Canadiens so many headaches before and after he was sent to the AHL last month.

Hamilton's goalie, Cedrick Desjardins, made 31 saves to collect the shutout, but the Senators helped, too. They've had trouble scoring goals and their power play has been stunningly ineffective. Counting Sunday's game, they've scored just five power-play goals in 48 chances.

Binghamton's big chance came on a third-period five-on-three. It was unsuccessful. On the next shift, Hamilton came down and scored.

"In today's game, your power play wins you games and your penalty kill wins you games," said Binghamton coach Don Nachbaur.

"Our penalty kill wasn't very good early in the season but it's getting better. Our power play - well, we're better than that. We have better personnel than that, but you have to get traffic around their goaltender and you have to make it tough for goalies to see pucks and you have to pick up loose pucks, or get bodies to loose pucks. And that's an area we're not great at.

"Whether it's the incentive or whether it's our size, we're going to have to find ways to get more bodies onto those loose pucks."

That sounds like a comment lament in Ottawa, too.

THE BIG MINUS

For a player who's known for his defensive abilities, it's shocking to see Cody Bass lead Binghamton at minus-9.

He has something of an excuse in that he's really only playing hockey again for the first time since last December because of injury. He's still finding his legs. But he's not helping himself, either, and he knows it.

"You never want to be on the minus side and right now it's hurting me," he said.

"But I don't think it proves how I'm playing. I think I'm playing a lot better than my plus-minus says.

"(The defensive game) is something I take pride in and I look at myself as a defensive forward.

"But like I said, I don't think that stat proves how I'm playing at all."

Nachbaur agrees, in part. He said while the plus-minus stat is sometimes the luck of the draw - stepping on the ice at the wrong time, for example - Bass has nonetheless been on the wrong side of the puck too often and has to pay more attention to his defensive game.

"When you get sent down, your mindset is to put up numbers to get recalled, but for a defensive player you get recalled if you're good defensively and an energy guy," said Nauchbaur.

"I think Cody at times has cheated on the offensive side of the puck and got caught defensively and those numbers went up.

"But for the most part, we know he's a good defensive player.

"But he needs to score some goals and make some plays, too. That's how it goes down. You have to be on the ice for goals, too."

TOUGH ADJUSTMENT

Erik Karlsson is still adjusting to life in the AHL. He says he's feeling a little bit better now, though not entirely convincingly.

"I don't know," he says. "I think so."

But his body language says it will be some time before he feels comfortable in an AHL uniform. Which is probably the way it should be, since it will only offer incentive for him to earn a recall.

"I'm OK," he said.

"I still like hockey as much as I did when I came here.

"I still have probably a little bit way to go. But I think so far everything has been good and the adjustment to the play has been pretty good."

He did concede it's probably a good thing to spend some time in the AHL, but he's hoping it's not a long time before he's back.

"I just have to keep getting the experience I need and show management I'm ready to be (in Ottawa)," he said.

EMPTY SEATS

Scotiabank Place was so empty on Sunday afternoon it looked lonely.

The game between the Senators and the Bulldogs could have been held at the Bell Sensplex and it wouldn't have been crowded.

Though the crowd was officially announced as 4,588, there couldn't have been more than 3,000 in the building.The third level was draped off.

A spectacular fall afternoon didn't help. It was much too nice to sit in a cold hockey arena. But there was also some grumbling that $14 was high for a ticket to a minor-league game, even though tickets in Bingo are more expensive, costing $16.75 U.S. on the ends and $17.75 U.S. on the sides.

The Canadiens drew 14,702 to Friday's game between the two teams at the Bell Centre. But what helped was that the third-level tickets were sold for $5.

If the game served one purpose, though, it was to give the coaching staffs from both NHL teams another chance to watch their farm teams.

Senators coach Cory Clouston and his staff were at the game. For the Canadiens, head coach Jacques Martin and director of player recruitment and development Trevor Timmins were at the game.

THE BYTOWN BULLIES

Thanks to their 39-minute effort in their 3-2 loss to the Devils, the Senators are now the most-penalized team in the NHL, averaging 20.2 minutes a game, a little more than the 19.1 averaged by the Carolina Hurricanes.

In 14 games, the Senators have accumulated 277 minutes. They've done a lot of bellyaching about what they claim are unjustified calls, but the crying is wearing thin.

Even coach Cory Clouston knows it. He was exasperated after the Devils scored three power-play goals to win Saturday's game. "We've just got to find a way to stay out of the box," he said. "Whatever it may be, whether we feel we're getting the short end of the stick, we've got to find a way to stay out of the box."

The Senators had Sunday off and will return to practice Monday.