The Belleville Senators collected a point in Syracuse Friday night after a 4-3 loss to the Crunch.
Drake Batherson (2) and Vitaly Abramov scored for the Senators while Filip Gustavsson made 30 saves. Syracuse’s Spencer Martin turned aside 29 shots as Alex Barre-Boulet (2), Chris Mueller and Danick Martel found the back of the net.
Tied at 3-3 heading to overtime, the Crunch won the game after some sustained pressure that saw Martel hold off Alex Formenton to maintain puck possession before beating Gustavsson glove-side at 2:07 to give the Crunch the extra point.
The Senators squandered two early power play chances, including a 5-on-3, but as the latter expired, Colin White, who had been assigned to Belleville for conditioning, forced a turnover behind the net to center to Batherson who buried his fourth of the year at 14:14.
The Sens’ sophomore forward had his second of the game just 20 seconds later as he skated down the middle and fired a shot that took a slight deflection off of Dominik Masin to beat Martin up high.
It could have 3-0 after 20 if not for Martin who robbed White on the power play with an incredible stretch of his right pad as Belleville took control of the opening period.
Mueller got Syracuse on the board at 1:59 of the second as with Morgan Klimchuk in the box, the veteran forward re-directed Barre-Boulet’s pass from the left circle past Gustavsson for his fourth of the season.
The Sens lead was only one for just 42 seconds as Abramov notched his third of the year from one knee as the puck found the Russian forward after a mild scramble in front of the net and he went high on Martin for a 3-1 lead.
Barre-Boulet cut Belleville’s lead to 3-2 at 5:14 on a wraparound before he tied the game on the power play 7:31 into the third period on the power play on a wrister from the left slot to send the game to overtime.
After tallying three points, Batherson became Belleville’s franchise leader in that category as he now sits on 75. Sens forward Chris Clapperton made his AHL debut.
Below is CJBQ’s Jack Miller speaking with Senators Head Coach Troy Mann.
Belleville is back in action Saturday when they visit Hartford. You can hear CJBQ’s broadcast with Jack Miller starting at 7:20.
ABOVE ARTICLE BY MATT TIDCOMBE FROM THE BELLEVILLE SENATORS
