Roby Jarventie scored his third game winner of the season when he delivered the game-winner with 57 seconds left in overtime as the Belleville Senators defeated the Hershey Bears 3-2 on Friday night at CAA Arena.
Belleville opened the scoring through defenceman Jonathan Aspirot who marked his return to the lineup after a four-game absence due to injury by blasting home his second season on the power play at 10:27 of the first period. Hershey forward Michael Sgarbossa tied the contest on the man advantage with 7:27 remaining in the frame.
Early in the second period, Aliaksei Protas gave the Bears their first lead of the contest, 1:27, into the frame. The Senators evened the score just past the mid-way point of the stanza when Egor Sokolov connected on a pass from Jake Lucchini as once again the two-sides headed to the intermission tied.
A tightly contested third period saw the game head to extra time as neither team could pull ahead in regulation. After the Senators began overtime with a vital penalty kill, Belleville turned to rookie forward Jarventie, who scored the winner with a quick snapshot from the slot.
Mads Sogaard made 36 saves in the overtime win.
“I thought he was excellent; quite frankly, I thought both goalies played very well when the momentum shifted, whether it was for us or Hershey, both goalies were required to make some saves, and Sogaard was excellent in the overtime, obviously with the 4-on-3 power play, and even though Aspirot came out of the box, they had a couple looks there before he was able to freeze the puck,” said head coach Troy Mann about the play of Sogaard.
The Senators have earned at least a point in nine of their last 11 games played and remain in the fourth playoff spot in the North Division playoff standings.
The Belleville Senators are back in action tonight when they host the Hartford Wolf Pack. You can hear the game on the Senators’ Official Broadcast Partner 800 AM CJBQ. Coverage begins at 6:50 p.m. ET with Jack Miller and David Foot.
