The Belleville Senators earned a deserved point but came up just short of a second in a 4-3 overtime defeat against the Bridgeport Islanders on Sunday afternoon.
The Islanders managed to open the scoring on a combined turnover/fall by Arthur Kaliyev and Tomas Hamara, respectively, allowing Liam Foudy to go in on a breakaway and score on Jackson Parsons.
A dangerous hit on Carter Yakemchuk led to an extra penalty for Belleville and a solid penalty kill led by Parsons’ outstanding goaltending.
Former Senator Matt Highmore squeezed in a powerplay goal early in the second frame, but Jan Jenik got one back shorthanded, spinning away from a Bridgeport check, flying down the right wing and whistling a clean shot low blocker on Henrik Tikkanen.
The unassisted goal was the Nymburk, Czechia native’s third of the season.
The game’s temperature shot up a notch with Djibril Toure and Kingston product Hunter Drew dropping the gloves and engaging in a spirited bout, before Cole McWard squeezed a shot through the left pad of Parsons and the near post to reinstate Bridgeport’s two-goal advantage.
Belleville generated momentum out of a powerplay, spending the entire two minutes of a Bridgeport penalty in the offensive zone and while the Sens didn’t score on that man advantage, they did get one even strength moments later.
Arthur Kaliyev got teed up by Jorian Donovan for a hammer of a one-timer past Tikkanen over the glove hand to slice into Bridgeport’s lead again, notching his 17th of the season.
Xavier Bourgault added the second assist.
Lassi Thomson blew a one-timer of his own short-side on a powerplay early in the third to get the Sens even from Scott Harrington and Jamieson Rees, his fifth of 2025-26 at 2:41.
That goal cued overtime, despite a third period largely controlled by the B-Sens.
A heart-stopping extra frame ended on a Cole McWard goal with 31 seconds left to send Bridgeport home with the extra point.
Parsons stopped 22 shots in the loss, Belleville’s eighth in 10 games as the December doldrums continue.
The Sens will rest and reset ahead of a busy next weekend, starting Friday in Rochester at 7:05 p.m.
