The Belleville Senators kept their North Division playoff hopes alive with a 3-1 win over the Cleveland Monsters Saturday night at CAA Arena.
The Senators had goals from Vitaly Abramov, Logan Brown and Christian Wolanin while Marcus Hogberg made 33 saves.
The Monsters’ Zac Dalpe scored as Brad Thiessen turned away 18 shots.
The Senators grabbed a stranglehold on the game in a 44-second span by scoring twice. Abramov got things going at 6:38 as he streaked down the right wing before cutting across the goal and patiently out-waited Thiessen before sliding the puck low past his former teammate.
The lead was doubled through Brown who banged in a loose puck that was laying on the goal line as he notched his first goal since Feb. 10 to give the Sens a 2-0 lead through 20 minutes.
The Monsters got right back into the game only 65 seconds into the third as Dalpe wired his 32nd of the year on a one-timer on a 5-on-3 advantage after the Senators got themselves into penalty trouble early into the period.
In a tense third period, the Senators got the insurance goal they needed through Wolanin’s seventh of the year as on a 3-on-1 odd man rush, the defenceman buried Darren Archibald’s centering pass to make it 3-1 Belleville and get Belleville within one point of Cleveland for the final playoff spot.
Senators forward Jack Rodewald played in his 200th career game.
