Losing weekend for Senators

The Belleville Senators finished off their back-to-back, taking on the Springfield Thunderbirds, losing 5-3.

The first period had Springfield jump out to an early lead with two short-handed goals. The first came off a turnover in the Senators’ offensive zone. Chris Wagner jumped ahead as a pass was fed into the middle for Aleksanteri Kaskimaki, who buried it to put Springfield up 1-0. The second short-handed marker saw Dylan Peterson take away a pass and rush in on a breakaway to score his tenth goal, making it 2-0. Just before the eight-minute mark, Belleville struck back. Taking the puck behind the net, Tyler Boucher snuck in his second goal in two games off a wraparound to cut the deficit to 2-1. Late in the frame, the Thunderbirds restored their two-goal lead. With heavy congestion in the Senators’ zone, Julien Gauthier sent a backhand pass to the net that went right to Juraj Pekarcik, making it a 3-1 game.

The Senators took advantage early in the second. Graeme Clarke drove the puck in and dropped it off for Olle Lycksell, who sent it to the middle for a Samuel Bolduc shot that beat Will Cranley, bringing Belleville within one. The Thunderbirds responded quickly, scoring just fifty-five seconds later. A quick passing play in the offensive zone started by Pekarcik as he picked up his second point of the evening by setting up Peterson, who slid one home to make it 4-2. Less than four minutes later, the Thunderbirds added another. After forcing a turnover in the neutral zone, Wagner sent the puck ahead to Dillon Dube for a breakaway, where he netted his twelfth goal to end the second period at 5-2.

Belleville dominated play in the third, outshooting the Thunderbirds 15–1 and adding a late tally. On the power play, Carter Yakemchuk reached ten goals in his rookie season with assists from Philippe Daoust and Xavier Bourgault. That would be the final marker for the Senators, as Belleville dropped the contest by a 5-3 final score.

Tonight wraps up the season series between Belleville and Springfield, as the Senators ended at 1-1-0-0. The Senators were outscored 5-4 and fall to a lifetime 5-11-1-0 record against the Thunderbirds.

After a hard week of hockey, Belleville will have five days off before coming back home Friday to take on the Manitoba Moose (AHL affiliate of the Winnipeg Jets) as they start the first of a back-to-back between each other, with game one coming at 7:00 p.m. inside CAA Arena.

See the game highlights here.

A post-game interview with Interim Head Coach Andrew Campbell can be heard here.