It took a four goal third period Saturday but the Belleville Senators split their weekend games with the Springfield Thunderbirds winning 7-5 in the second match.
After dropping Friday’s contest 4-3 on a Springfield short handed goal the B-Sens looked to get back in the win column Saturday.
The Thunderbirds jumped out to an early lead with a goal just over one minute in and another just under the eight minute mark to make it 2-0.
Long time NHL player Michael Del Zotto, who had two goals and three points in Friday’s contest, scored his third goal in a Belleville sweater to cut the lead in half in the waning minutes of the first period.
The action started quickly in the second period as Rourke Chartier scored his fifth of the season to tie the game at two.
Following that a flurry of activity and penalties sent Belleville’s Lassi Thomson and Springfield’s Keean Washkurak for extended breaks.
At the halfway mark of the second period Springfield’s Mackenzie MacEachern scored his eighth to retake the lead for the Thunderbirds and six minutes later, following a holding penalty to Belleville’s Xavier Bernard, the Thunderbirds extended the lead with a power play marker.
Not to be outdone, Belleville winger Roby Jarventie scored just nine seconds later to cut the lead to one heading into the second intermission.
The third period proved an exciting one when just before the halfway mark a bench minor penalty to Springfield for unsportsmanlike conduct, along with two simultaneous penalties to other Thunderbirds players, sent the B-Sens on a lopsided power play.
On the ensuing man advantage Logan Shaw potted his first of the season to knot the game at four and from there the floodgates opened.
Just 11 seconds after Shaw’s goal Egor Sokolov netted his own power play goal to take the lead, a minute and a half after that Chris Wilkie added his own power play tally and not long after Sokolov scored his second extra man goal of the night to make it 7-4 Belleville.
A late Thunderbirds goal wasn’t enough to do it as the B-Sens cruised to a 7-5 win on the strength of four goals in three minutes.
Mads Sogaard, who collected the win in relief of Kevin Mandolese, stopped 11 of 13 shots faced in 29 minutes of action.
After the game Belleville Head Coach Troy Mann commended his team’s resolve in the come-from-behind win.
“I didn’t like our start. I thought we were flat and they certainly took it to us early. Specifically that first line with Peca, Walker and Anas there. They were moving and they were generating a lot of chances and I thought we were just on our heels and not ready to play. We certainly turned it around towards the halfway point of that first period. I thought we got our legs and it was just one of those back-and-forth. A lot of resolve, a lot of resilience there to keep battling back.”
Del Zotto, who has seven points in four games since being sent down to Belleville by the Ottawa Senators, six of which came against Springfield this weekend, said after Saturday’s game that he’s trying to prove he’s a full time NHL player.
“I definitely come with a chip on my shoulder. Happy to work and get better every single day but also prove to the people that, I guess, have made the decision of sending me here that I am an everyday NHL player and the last 12-13 years haven’t been a fluke. That’s really about it. I come here ready to work and it’s been a great group of guys, the coaching staff has been great to me, welcomed me with open arms, has really helped me in practice and helped me continue to grow my game and the last two games have been definitely fun offensively for me.”
Belleville now takes to the road for five straight games including one against the Toronto Marlies on Wednesday, two against the Rochester Americans, one against the Syracuse Crunch and finishing it off with one at the Laval Rocket.
Coverage for Wednesday’s game at Toronto begins on 800 CJBQ live at 2:50 p.m.
