The Belleville Senators opened their most crucial weekend of the season to date with a 6-2 win over the rival Toronto Marlies on Friday.
The Senators, wearing their throwback Belleville McFarlands jerseys, used six different goal scorers and carried the play for the majority of the game.
Belleville opened the scoring less than 4:00 when Drake Batherson, fresh out of the penalty box, fed a pinpoint pass cross-ice to a streaking Max McCormick, who snapped a wrister past Kasimir Kaskisuo.
The Marlies evened things about 3:00 later after an Andreas Borgman point shot missed the net, banged off the back boards and was knocked in by Colin Greening on the rebound.
The B-Sens got back in front before the end of the period on a three-on-one rush with Aaron Luchuk feeding a pass to Joseph LaBate in the middle, but it went right past him to Tobias Lindberg, who buried his 5th of the season.
Belleville extended the lead on the power play at 5:18 of the second.
Adam Tambellini made a backdoor pass to Filip Chlapik and he tapped it in to make it 3-1.
Luchuk had his second assist on the play, for the first multi-point game of his AHL career.
He told media the team responded well during a rivalry game and personally, he’s starting to get more comfortable playing more minutes, especially after coming back from an injury layoff.
Belleville Senators forward Aaron Luhcuk sets up in front of the net during a game against the Toronto Marlies, at CAA Arena, on January 25, 2019. (Photo: Jason Scourse / Belleville Senators)
Toronto got one back at 12:05 on a misplay by Marcus Hogberg behind the Belleville goal.
The big Swedish netminder got turned around trying to play the puck and former Senator Gabriel Gagne, making his return to Belleville, tossed a puck out front to Carl Grundstrum, who put it in the empty net and made it 3-2.
It was Gagne’s first point as a member of the Marlies.
Belleville would put the game out of reach from there, with a Rudolfs Balcers shorthanded marker before the end of the second and then third period goals from Logan Brown on the power play and Stefan Elliott, just at the end of a power play.
B-Sens coach Troy Mann called it a complete performance from his team.
He says he’s not worried about his team getting over confident heading into the rematch Saturday night.
Saturday’s game, which is close to a sell out as History of Hockey Weekend continues, starts at 7:05 p.m. at CAA Arena.
800 CJBQ’s broadcast begins at 6:50 p.m. for Eastern Overhead Doors and Deerhaven Farm and Garden.
You can click here to read the box score from Friday with full post game interviews and highlights below.
Troy Mann Post Game Interview:
Aaron Luchuk Post Game Interview:
