As heard on CJBQ, the Belleville Senators opened its preseason with a convincing 5-2 win over the Laval Rocket at Place Bell.
Belleville had goals from Alex Formenton (2), Jonathan Davidsson, Jonathan Aspirot, Mark Kastelic while Marcus Hogberg made 38 saves. Laval’s Cayden Primeau turned away 12 shots while Alexandre Alain and Nikita Jevpalovs scored.
The Senators exploded inside the opening 10 minutes as they built an early 3-0 lead.
It took all of 3:32 for Belleville to open the scoring as Davidsson scored on the power play from the right slot after Formenton had set him up with a slick look off pass.
Formenton would continue to dominate the game as he pushed the lead to 2-0 with a wrister from the right wing that flew past Primeau before he grabbed his second of the afternoon on a re-direct off of Morgan Klimchuk’s point shot at 9:03.
Laval finally got on the board at 13:38 of the second through Alain as the hosts tallied 32 shots through the opening 40 minutes.
Belleville restored its three-goal lead 2:46 into the final frame through Aspirot as he had his stick on the ice to re-direct Griffin Reinhart’s shot past Primeau and 49 seconds later it was 5-1 Senators as Kastelic scored from a very tight angle.
The third period turned fiery as Kastelic dropped the gloves with Jonathan Racine before Cole Cassels fought Michael Pezzetta.
Jevpalovs scored on a 5-on-3 advantage with 1:55 left to cut the Belleville lead to 5-2.
The Senators will complete its preseason Sunday when they again face Laval at 3pm. Belleville opens its regular season Oct. 5 in Toronto before playing its home-opener on Oct. 11 against Binghamton at CAA Arena.
Get in on the action throughout 2019-20 with Belleville Senators season tickets or flex packages. Single-game tickets are now on-sale through Dec. 31.
STORY MATT TIDCOMBE BELLEVILLE SENATORS
