The River Rats were truly early risers on Tuesday morning.
Albany scored three unanswered goals in the first period en route to a 6-1 rout of East Division foe Binghamton before a crowd of 5,032, with mostly school groups from throughout the region attending the contest.
In the first morning game at home in the 17-year history of the franchise, the River Rats excelled in the 11 a.m. start.
Albany’s top-scoring line of Jerome Samson, Stephan Chaput and Zach Boychuk combined for 10 points, including four goals.
The French Connection line had a hand in four of the Rats’ goals — with Samson totaling four (1 goal-3 assists) points and Chaput (2-1) and Boychuk (1-2) registering three points each.
The Rats scored three goals on the first 10 shots taken against goalie Andy Chiodo.
Chaput set up Samson’s team-leading 28th goal 1:38 into the game, Chaput scored a power-play goal at 14:11 and center Nick Dodge followed with a goal at 16:50 as Albany built a 3-0 advantage.
Ryan Keller scored a power-play goal 49 seconds into the second period to draw the Senators within two goals, but Chaput scored again at 10:23 on a tally set up by Samson — who extended his team season-high point streak to eight games (with 7 goals and 6 assists) — and Boychuk followed with a power-play goal at 18:06.
Left wing Chris Terry added an unassisted goal 4:55 into the third period.
Goalie Mike Morrison made 32 saves to record his first win with Albany (33-24-3-3), which moved into sole possession of first place in the East Division, two points ahead of Norfolk.
The Rats play at Norfolk both on Friday and Saturday night at 7. Only six of Albany’s 17 remaining games are at home, with the Rats next hosting a game a week from Saturday against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.