Photo and story courtesy of Belleville Senators.
The Belleville Senators lost its third straight game via a shootout Sunday as they fell 3-2 to the Hershey Bears.
Belleville’s Filip Gustavsson made 32 saves while Jack Rodewald and Drake Batherson scored. Hershey had goals from Shane Gersich Mike Sgarbossa in regulation while Vitek Vanecek turned aside 27 shots.
After a scoreless second that saw the Sens head into the third period down 2-1, it took just one minute for Batherson to tie the game. After Logan Brown hit the post and Christian Wolanin was denied on the rebound, Batherson was finally able to deposit the puck in the net as he notched his 10th goal of his rookie campaign.
After Belleville couldn’t convert on a five-minute major over the final 3:33 of regulation and into overtime after Nathan Walker was punished for an open-ice hit that left Wolanin down injured on the ice, the Bears won the game in the shootout as Riley Barber had the only goal.
After the Sens killed off a Logan Brown penalty early in the first, the Bears opened the scoring at 7:11 through Gersich who beat Gustavsson five-hole on a breakaway for his sixth of the season.
The Sens got its equalizer on special teams as Rodewald buried his own rebound on the power play at 9:48 but the Senators conceded just 55 seconds later as Sgarbossa converted a 2-on-1 after taking Steve Whitney’s pass.
Belleville is back in action Tuesday when they visit the Toronto Marlies. The Sens are back home Feb. 9 against Laval with tickets available by clicking here.
