The Belleville Senators offence caught a spark in Syracuse on Saturday night.
Wyatt Bongiovanni scored twice and four players picked up two assists as the Sens defeated the Crunch 7-4.
Syracuse scored early in the first period when Cooper Flinton buried a rebound past Leevi Merilainen a little over five minutes in.
Belleville answered back about three minutes later on the power play, with Arthur Kaliyev one-timing a Stephen Halliday feed past Brandon Halverson for his second of the season.
Then, about four minutes later, Bongiovanni ripped his fourth of the season to give the Sens their first lead of the night and a 2-1 advantage after 20 minutes.
A busy offensive second period started about a minute in with a Jakob Pelletier marker, with Bongiovanni answering back quickly by wiring a high wrist shot home to give Belleville the lead back.
Xavier Bourgault walked through the crease and buried his fourth goal of the season, on another power play, at 4:52 of the second, to put Belleville up by two, but Nick Abruzzese would cut the Sens’ advantage back to 4-3 by tapping in a loose puck around Merilainen’s crease at 6:05 of the frame.
Syracuse scored early in the third as well, when Boris Katchouk pounced on a puck in a goalmouth scramble to tie the game 4-4, but a Lassi Thomson one-timer at the 5:07 mark of the period would put Belleville ahead for good.
Jorian Donovan and Hayden Hodgson added empty-net goals to round out the scoring.
Merilainen made 38 saves on 42 shots for the victory, Belleville’s fourth in five games after a four-game losing skid to start the season.
Halliday, Garrett Pilon, Tyler Boucher and Carter Yakemchuk all posted two helpers in the victory.
The Senators are off until next Friday when they visit the Utica Comets, the AHL affiliate of the New Jersey Devils for the first time this season.
(BROCK ORMOND)
