The Belleville Senators offence has been slow to get going in the early part of the 2019/20 season.
Despite piling on shots at the Binghamton Devils net and consistently generating chances throughout the game, the B-Sens dropped their home opener 2-1, on Friday night.
The Senators peppered Cormier for the first 3:00 of the game, but Nathan Bastian made a seeing eye pass from deep in the defensive zone to Chris Conner, who had a breakaway from the Belleville blue line in and tucked a backhand between the legs of Marcus Hogberg.
Binghamton made it 2-0 about a minute and a half later after a Belleville turnover in their own zone.
Joey Anderson won a race to the puck below the goal line and threw a pass out front to Brett Seney, who beat Hogberg with a one-timer.
Hogberg rebounded with an excellent kick save at about 8:45 in, keeping Binghamton from extending the lead and the Sens would repay him a couple of minutes later with a shorthanded goal.
Jordan Szwarz blocked two Binghamton shots, eventually leading to a two-on-one rush for Nick Paul and Morgan Klimchuk, with Klimchuk finishing off the play, putting home his first of the season.
Belleville had an active double-minor power play late in the period but couldn’t get even before the buzzer.
There was no scoring in the second period, but the Sens got three good chances from Alex Formenton, Drake Batherson and Jack Rodewald within the first 10:00.
The Senators also had to kill off a lengthy five-on-three penalty and did so with the help of a massive glove save by Hogberg and another big shot block from Jack Dougherty.
Belleville would have a handful of chances in the third period, but weren’t able to beat Cormier again, with the Devils’ goaltender finishing the night with 35 saves.
Belleville Senators forward Parker Kelly during a game against the Binghamton Devils, on October 11, 2019. (Photo: Jason Scourse / Belleville Senators)
Head Coach Troy Mann says he thought his team played well enough to win the game.
He added that while his team has a lot of offensive potential on paper, there’s still plenty to learn for the younger players on the roster
Mann says they’ll make one or two line up changes to the forward core, ahead of the rematch on Saturday night and Filip Gustavsson will make his first start of the season in goal.
Saturday’s game can be heard on 800 CJBQ, for Eastern Overhead Doors and Deerhaven Farm and Garden, starting at 6:50 p.m.
You can click here to read the box score from Friday and see highlights from the game below.
