The Belleville Senators started their short road trip with a 6-3 win over the Hershey Bears in the first game of a back-to-back.
The starting frame saw Hershey make their mark on the game early. Off a two-on-one play, Bogdan Trineyev sent a pass to the side of the net for Ilya Protas, who buried his twenty-fifth goal for a 1-0 lead.
Late in the period, Belleville was able to even the score. Sustained pressure in the Bears’ zone, started by Tyler Boucher, saw Graeme Clarke drop the puck off for Djibril Toure, whose shot got through for his first of the year to tie the game at 1-1.
The middle twenty saw the scoring continue with a familiar face lighting the lamp. Wyatt Bongiovanni nabbed his thirteenth goal of the year, with help from Sam Bitten and David Gucciardi, to put the Bears ahead 2-1.
The Senators answered with three straight goals to close out the period. The first came off a takeaway in the neutral zone by Carter Yakemchuk, as he poked the puck ahead to Jamieson Rees, whose shot hit the stick of Mark Duarte to knot the game at 2-2.
Just under six minutes later, Clarke dropped the puck off for Yakemchuk, who, from behind the net, fed Xavier Bourgault for his seventeenth goal to give Belleville a 3-2 lead. To finish off the scoring push, Bourgault’s pass on the power play found Clarke, who walked into the slot and scored his first against his former team to make it a 4-2 game heading into the third.
The third period saw Hershey trim the deficit on the power play halfway through. A point shot from Trineyev had him score his third goal in three contests, with Louie Belpedio and Sonny Milano picking up assists, making it a 4-3 game. However, Belleville answered right back.
Off a turnover in the offensive zone behind the net by the Bears, Oskar Pettersson picked up the puck and got it in front to Hayden Hodgson for his eighth of the season, making it 5-3. The Senators added an empty-netter courtesy of Keean Washkurak to seal a 6-3 final.
Belleville heads right back to Giant Center Sunday at 5 p.m. to take on the Bears again to finish their back-to-back and wrap up the season series.
