The Belleville Senators set the tone for their road trip with a 7-2 thrashing of the Toronto Marlies on the road Saturday after a week off.
The Senators came out of the gates slowly getting out-shot 11 to seven in the first period and giving up one goal. After that, it was all Belleville until the final buzzer.
The Sens came out flying in the second frame with Egor Sokolov knotting the game at one just 22 seconds into the period. The Senators opened the floodgates after that with goals from Parker Kelly, another from Sokolov and finished the period up 4-1 on a goal from Vitaly Abramov.
In the third period the Senators kept their foot on the gas with Sokolov completing the hat trick on the power play just under five minutes in. Newcomer Angus Crookshank notched the primary assist on the goal for his first AHL point in his first game. Just a few minutes later Cole Reinhardt scored to make it 6-1 for Belleville which signalled the end of Marlies goaltender Joseph Woll’s night.
The Marlies managed a late goal when Joey Anderson put one in on the power play but the Senators answered quickly with a power play marker of their own by Jonathan Aspirot to close out the game and seal the 7-2 win.
Belleville goaltender Marcus Hogberg proved steady again stopping 27 of 29 shots on the night.
After the game, Angus Crookshank spoke about playing in his first AHL game.
“The pace is definitely quicker. The guys made me feel welcome and kind of helped me adjust and I’m grateful for that from them. All I can do is just continue to improve every day and hopefully get better.”
After going without a goal in three straight games Egor Sokolov notched a hat trick and now has seven goals on the season. He talked about his mindset coming into the game.
“The last couple games were rough and I couldn’t put the puck in the net. I talked to the coaches today and they all told me just don’t focus on that, just clear your mind, go out there and do your job. They know my potential and what I can do on the ice, shoot the puck. I came on the ice today with a clear mind, got that first chance in the first period, almost put it in. After the first period I just sat down for a bit and kind of laughed a little bit, you know, just try to mess around in the dressing room, try to talk to the guys and clear my mind.”
Senators Head Coach Troy Mann had praise for his team’s ability to take control of the game after a slow start.
“Most times the home team makes that early push in the first period and they did that. Obviously Hogberg was very, very good early and I thought as the period progressed we got better. Certainly the second was dominating from our perspective. We got some timely goals. Hoggy definitely gave us some saves early.”
Mann said the team will head back to Ottawa to get some practice in before they fly out to play a four game set against the Manitoba Moose and then three against the Stockton Heat in Calgary.
The road trip is an important one for the Senators who sit last in the Canadian division right behind the Moose and the Heat. The Senators have four games in hand over both teams.
The B-Sens kick off their series against the Moose on Wednesday at 6 p.m central time in Winnipeg.
