The Belleville Senators turned the tides on their road trip with a 6-2 win over the Cleveland Monsters Friday night.
The B-Sens were in Cleveland for the third of five games on their first big road trip of the young season.
Coming off losses to Toronto and Rochester, the B-Sens were looking to bounce back against the Monsters who beat them twice at home in late October.
Jake Lucchini opened the scoring for Belleville just five minutes into the game with a solo shorthanded effort while fighting off a Matthew Wedman holding penalty.
Just 10 minutes later the B-Sens poured it on with goals from Erik Brannstrom and Kole Sherwood separated by a minute and a half to take a 3-0 lead.
The second period proved nothing as neither team was able to score despite four power play opportunities for the Monsters and two for the Senators.
Mads Sogaard had to make just three saves in the frame despite spending so much time down a man.
In the third the B-Sens opened the game back up.
Around eight minutes into the frame Cole Reinhardt extended the lead to four with a power play marker following a Tristan Mullin holding penalty.
Minutes later Scott Sabourin capitalized with his first of the season on an empty net.
That goal was followed quickly by a Carson Meyer goal to put Cleveland on the board as they made a late push, but with three minutes on the clock Belleville forward Parker Kelly put home his first of the season to ice the game.
A late power play goal by former Belleville Bull Brendan Gaunce wouldn’t be enough as the B-Sens cruised to a 6-2 win.
Jake Luccini and Erik Brannstrom each collected two points in the win with one goal and one assist for both players.
For his part Mads Sogaard made 23 saves on 25 shots while Belleville fired 27 on Monsters goalie Daniil Tarasov.
After the game Belleville Head Coach Troy Mann said it was their best game of the season so far.
“I think so, from start to finish. I certainly liked our start. We talked about it this morning and prior to the game about having a better start. We certainly know that teams are gonna push at home and I just thought that all four lines were going tonight. Obviously a little bit of penalty trouble in the second but we certainly did a lot of good things tonight.”
The B-Sens will look to keep the good times rolling and escape Cleveland with two wins as they play the second half of a road back-to-back set against the Monsters Saturday night.
The puck drops at 7 p.m. and you can catch the game live on 800 CJBQ.
