The Belleville Senators are still left searching after a 5-3 loss to the Syracuse Crunch on Sunday afternoon.
The Sens got Leevi Merilainen back from the NHL parent club in Ottawa to make 35 saves in a losing cause.
Syracuse opened the scoring by taking advantage of a fumbled pass in the middle of the Belleville zone, with Dominic James jumping quickly on the loose puck and wiring a shot over the glove hand of Merilainen at 12:41 of the first.
Belleville continued to push and got a tying marker courtesy of Wyatt Bongiovanni on a shot from the right side under the blocking arm of Syracuse goalie Ryan Fanti.
The Birmingham, Michigan native’s first of the season came unassisted at the 17:40 mark of the frame.
Belleville outshot Syracuse 10-9 in the period.
The Crunch wrestled the lead back again on a tight angle shot top shelf from Tristan Allard on a slip pass from Gabriel Szturc, then jumped ahead by two while shorthanded after they boxed Bongiovanni in with a heavy forecheck and squirted the puck out to Lucas Mercuri, who made a move toward the Belleville cage and slid it through Merilainen’s legs.
Syracuse continued to pour it on, but the Sens broke the momentum with a Cam Crotty tally, as he took a cross ice pass from Tyler Boucher and rifled a shot under Fanti for his first as a Senator.
Stephen Halliday added the second helper at 6:54.
The Crunch reinstated the two-goal bulge about a minute-and-a-half later on Dylan Duke’s tap-in, then increased the lead further when former Ottawa Senator Boris Katchouk broke away and deked out Merilainen.
Lassi Thomson zinged home his first goal back in a Sens uniform with 1:11 left in the third, but it was not enough for the Sens.
Syracuse outshot Belleville 40-24 on the day.
Belleville falls to 0-3-1-0 on the season so far and will await its first win for at least one more game.
The Laval Rocket are in town for a Wednesday night affair at 7 p.m. at CAA Arena.
(BROCK ORMOND)
