A late second period Syracuse Crunch goal stood up as the visiting team pulled out a narrow 2-1 win over the Belleville Senators on Wednesday.
Playing up an hour from their usual start time, the Sens were thrown off their routine a bit early by a fast break goal courtesy of Mitchell Chaffee.
Syracuse was led by Conor Geekie out of its zone, who got into Belleville territory and set up Chaffee for the shot that eluded Leevi Merilainen on the blocker side at 1:13.
The Sens broke through later in the frame, through a three-way passing play that was finished by Scott Harrington to knot the score.
The Kingston product’s third of the season was set up by Hayden Hodgson and Garrett Pilon.
The second period simmered until a goal in the extremely late stages, when the Crunch found a hole in the Sens defence.
Dylan Duke took a Tristan Allard pass in behind the Sens and deked to the backhand, beating Merilainen through the legs to help the Crunch wrestle the lead back with 10 seconds left.
Syracuse held Belleville to three shots through the frame in a stingy defensive performance.
The third period was controlled by the Crunch early on, but the Sens offered some push back in the second half with some decent chances on Brandon Halverson.
Unfortunately for the home side, decent wasn’t enough, as the Crunch made the slim lead stick and the Sens dropped to 2-3 on the season series versus Syracuse.
Leevi Merilainen stopped 21 of 23 Crunch chances, taking the loss in his 11th AHL appearance of the season.
The Sens will hit the road for a pair of games against Atlantic Division opponents, starting with the mighty Providence Bruins at 7:05 p.m. Friday.
