The Belleville Senators lost their second straight game to the Manitoba Moose Saturday after Moose forward Jeff Malott scored just under one minute into overtime.
Coming off an 8-5 thrashing at the hands of the Moose on Thursday, Belleville went down 1-0 in the first period when Moose forward Cole Maier beat Filip Gustavsson who was making his eighth start of the season.
In the second period, Vitaly Abramov notched his sixth goal of the season to tie the game at one but the Moose answered just six minutes later to take a 2-1 lead when Nathan Todd scored on the man advantage.
The third period saw newly minted B-Sens forward Curtis Douglas score to tie the game at two with the primary assist coming from another new face, Angus Crookshank, who now has five points in four games since joining the team.
New faces on the B-Sens roster continue to be a big part of the team as Douglas, hours after signing an amateur tryout agreement, potted his first AHL goal.
The 6’8, 205-pound forward, who played four OHL seasons with the Barrie Colts and Windsor Spitfires, talked about adjusting to the AHL game.
“I definitely have to keep my feet moving and make sure that I’m aware of what’s going on around me because I’m a bigger guy so it’s a little bit tougher to get me going. I had to make sure that I was ready to backcheck and forecheck in a second’s notice and it was a bit of an adjustment.”
Originally a fourth round NHL draft pick of the Dallas Stars in 2018, Douglas joined the Belleville Senators after playing 16 games for the Steel Wings Linz of the AlpsHL in Austria where he notched eight goals and four assists for 12 points in 16 games.
The B-Sens struggled on the power play Saturday going scoreless on four chances with the man advantage. Netminder Filip Gustavsson stopped 30 of 33 shots but let in the first shot he saw in overtime.
Senators Head Coach Troy Man credited his team for bouncing back defensively after a rough outing the previous game and had some thoughts on the impact of the new additions.
“Overall, I’m not going to fault the effort tonight. I thought we played well. Much better defensively in terms of the grade-A opportunities we gave up. I thought our young guys made some good impressions with the Crookshank performance and the new kid with Douglas. So I’m not going to fault it, you know, you take the point.”
With the loss, the B-Sens fall to 7-11-1 on the season sitting in last place in the Canadian Division three games back of the fourth place Toronto Marlies.
The Belleville Senators take the ice again against the Manitoba Moose Monday at 5 p.m. eastern in Manitoba before wrapping up their eight game road trip with three games against the Stockton Heat in Calgary.
