The Belleville Senators playoff runway has closed.
The Sens lost a 2-0 first period lead, conceding five unanswered goals to the Laval Rocket in a 5-2 loss on Saturday afternoon that dashed an opportunity for the Calder Cup playoffs for the second season in a row.
After some back and forth to start the first twenty minutes, Belleville got on the board with a drive-by tally. Off a faceoff win by Graeme Clarke, a shot from the blue line by Carter Yakemchuk was tipped in by Tyler Boucher, scoring his second in as many games to make it 1–0.
Later in the period, the Senators extended their lead on the power play. A pass into the zone from Samuel Bolduc to Garrett Pilon saw the Sens captain stop up and feed Clarke for his twentieth goal and a 2–0 lead.
The second started off quickly for the Rocket, as Laval capitalized on the power play just forty-three seconds in. A circle-to-circle feed from Samuel Blais found Joshua Roy for a one-timer, nabbing his third goal in two games and cutting the deficit to 2–1.
At the 6:09 mark, Laval struck again on the man advantage. A slap shot from the top of the circle by Sean Farrell created a rebound to the far corner for Alex Belzile, who snuck one through on the short side to tie the game at 2–2.
The Rocket did not stop there, adding their third straight tally. Coming in on a three-on-two, Blais led the way into the zone as his shot from in tight was tipped in by Florian Xhekaj, netting his seventeenth for a 3–2 lead heading into the third.
The final twenty minutes went scoreless for the Senators, as they were outshot 11–4.
Mads Sogaard came into the game in the third, stopping all nine shots he faced after Jackson Parsons started, saving 17 of 20. The Rocket added two empty-net goals courtesy of Joshua Roy, earning a hat trick as Belleville fell 5–2. With this loss, the Senators have been eliminated from 2026 Calder Cup Playoff contention.
Belleville now has some time off until Wednesday, when they return home to CAA Arena for another Winning Wednesday against the Utica Comets (AHL affiliate of the New Jersey Devils), with game time set for 7:00 p.m.
