For the second time in as many games, second period stumbles cost the Belleville Senators a win on home ice, as they fell 7-4 to the Providence Bruins (Boston Bruins) on Friday.
Belleville went 4 for 5 on the power play, but struggled defensively in 5 on 5 situations and sees their record on the season fall to 1-4-0-0.
The B-Sens start to the game wasn’t great to say the least as they took a too many men penalty within the first minute and it cost them.
At 2:33 Oskar Steen parked himself in front of Filip Gustavsson, with his back to the net and took a pass from Trent Frederic, then pivoted his hips and tucked it home.
The P-Bruins counted again 13 seconds later, off the ensuing faceoff, after getting the puck in deep and Jakub Lauko was left alone at the side of the net and knocked in a pass from Wiley Sherman to make it 2-0.
After starting the season 0 for 15 on the power play coach Troy Mann made some changes, putting rookie forward Josh Norris on the first unit with Drake Batherson and Logan Brown, and the move paid off.
At 8:43 with Josiah Didier in the penalty box, Norris one-timed his first career goal past a sprawling Kyle Keyser, who was making his first career regular season AHL start.
Max Lajoie and Batherson earned the assists.
Then, at the 11:00 mark with Didier in the box again, Brown wired his third goal of the season through the P-Bruins netminder to tie the game.
Providence almost took the lead again before the end of the period, when Gustavsson fell behind the net trying to play the puck, but Belleville’s sophomore tender slid back in time to rob Jack Studnicka and keep it tied.
Norris says it was nice to get his first goal fairly early in the season and to develop some chemistry with his power play line mates fairly quickly.
Belleville Senators forward Josh Norris celebrates his first professional goal, during a game against the Providence Bruins, on October 19, 2019. (Photo: Jason Scourse / Belleville Senators)
Despite the strong finish to the first period the second period woes continued, as Providence took the lead again inside the first 3:00.
Gustavsson poked away a puck that came out of the corner, right onto the stick of Robert Lantosi, who buried it to give Providence the lead again.
Then 10:22, Cameron Hughes pounced on another rebound out in front, on a delayed penalty, to make it 4-2 and at 16:02 Peter Celehrik walked in and snapped a wrist shot past Gustavsson, leading to a goaltending change
Studnicka found the back of the net on a redirection at 1:26 of the third to put Providence up 6-2, but Belleville’s power play would go back to work again and make the game a bit tighter.
Norris found Batherson in front of the net at 4:47, as the B-Sens leading point-getter spun around and slid a backhander by Keyser for his second goal of the season.
Mike Carcone made it 6-4 about 3:00 later, blasting a clapper past Keyser, but then former B-Sen Paul Carey got a friendly bounce at 16:15 to cap the scoring and put the game out of reach.
Belleville Senators defenceman Andreas Englund battles in front of the net with former B-Sens Paul Carey, of the Providence Bruins, during a game at CAA Arena on October 19, 2019. (Photo: Jason Scourse / Belleville Senators)
Mann told media post game it was a similar story to Friday night, where his young team just couldn’t manage the momentum swings.
Mann’s line up shuffle also included listing Vitaly Abramov as a healthy scratch, after a rough game Friday night.
The coach says players have to be held accountable when they don’t perform.
Belleville also lost defencemen Christian Jaros and Andreas Englund to injury on Saturday and Mann says players may have to be signed to pro tryout offers to fill those gaps for the time being.
The Senators are off until Wednesday night when they finish their five game home stand with their first of 12 regular season meetings with the Laval Rocket (Montreal Canadiens).
They’ll head off to Springfield and pay a return visit to the Bruins in Providence next weekend.
800 CJBQ’s play-by-play coverage Wednesday night will begin at 6:50 p.m. for Deerhaven Farm and Garden, and Eastern Overhead Doors.
You can read the box score from Saturday by clicking here and see highlights from the game below.
