The Belleville Senators snapped a season-opening losing skid with emphasis on Wednesday night.
They jumped on the Laval Rocket with a 6-2 victory, their first of the young AHL season.
The domination started early with lots of chances for Belleville, but Jacob Fowler was outstanding in the Laval crease until the Sens finally got on the board late in the frame.
It took a penalty and a shorthanded situation for the Sens to break through, with Phil Daoust stripping a puck away from the Rocket and finding Xavier Bourgault for a low blocker shot off the post and in behind Fowler.
The goal was Bourgault’s second of the season, both coming with a man down.
A penalty contested by the B-Sens resulted in a quick tap-in tally early in the second from Laurent Dauphin off a one-timer from Sean Farrell.
Quinte Red Devils graduate Owen Beck teed up Farrell for the second assist.
Bourgault did an outstanding bit of work to complete a tic-tac-toe play in motion with Stephen Halliday and Arthur Kaliyev for his second of the night and third of the season at 13:13 to put Belleville back in front.
The momentum and the fuel from the fans inspired the Sens to another marker just 34 seconds later, with Hayden Hodgson backhanding a loose puck past a fallen Fowler from Keean Washkurak and Carter Yakemchuk.
Exactly four minutes later, Adam Engstrom whipped a centering pass upstairs on Leevi Merilainen after the Sens couldn’t clear the zone to pull the Rocket back within a goal.
Belleville kept its buffer intact before the period ended, with Wyatt Bongiovanni hammering home a Halliday feed with 23 seconds left on the powerplay.
Oskar Pettersson also assisted on Bongiovanni’s second of the year.
The B-Sens took further advantage of their momentum when Garrett Pilon made it 5-2 on an unassisted break at 1:49, getting his first of the season to extend the Sens lead.
A seeing eye shot from the right point from Cam Crotty found its way through heavy traffic at the 9:24 juncture from Jorian Donovan and Pilon to further drive the win home.
Laval came back to outshoot the B-Sens 28-24, with Merilainen making 26 saves to pick up his first victory of the season.
The B-Sens will have a couple of days off before another couple of Battle of Ontario rounds this weekend, with both games beginning at 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
(BROCK ORMOND)
