On a day the team celebrated a major franchise milestone, Belleville Senators faced off against the Toronto Marlies in another Battle of Ontario, coming away with a 4-1 victory.
More than 3,200 fans filed into CIBC Place for 10th anniversary celebrations recognizing the team’s first AHL game from November 1, 2017, getting hyped for an exciting walk back through time.
First Sens Captain Mike Blunden was on hand for the ceremonial faceoff as part of the festivities.
Halfway through the opening twenty minutes, Belleville broke the scoreless tie. On the power play, Christian Kyrou and Philippe Daoust helped set up Kasper Halttunen, who found the back of the net for the second consecutive game to give the Senators a 1-0 lead.
Just 16 seconds later, Belleville added another tally. This time at even strength, Tyler Boucher got the puck to Ryan Suzuki, who sent a lead pass up to Blake Montgomery. Using his speed to beat the defender, Montgomery cut in and buried his first goal of the season to make it 2-0.
In the second period, Belleville extended their lead, once again on the power play. Working the puck down low, Daoust and Suzuki moved it around before sending it cross-ice to Halttunen, who buried his second of the night to make it a 3-0 contest.
The Senators continued their scoring ways in the third. On the power play, Halttunen completed his hat trick, with Kyrou and Samuel Blais picking up the assists to extend Belleville’s lead to 4-0. The Marlies did manage to get on the board just after the five-minute mark.
Logan Shaw found room to get the puck to Philippe Myers, whose lead pass found Ryan Tverberg, who scored his fourth of the season to make it 4-1. Toronto had another opportunity with the man advantage late in the third, but the Senators shut the door to secure the 4-1 victory.
The Senators will continue their rivalry with the Marlies later this month when Toronto returns to town for the annual BSens School Day Game. The fun gets underway at 10:30 a.m. at CIBC Place.
Belleville now has some time off before returning to action on Friday, November 6th, as the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (AHL affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers) visit CIBC Place for the second and final meeting between the two teams this season.
The third game of this four-game homestand gets underway at 7:00 p.m.
