Story submitted by Belleville Senators
The Belleville Senators hit the road for a four-game trip, starting in Quebec against the Laval Rocket, falling 4–3.
A rowdy Place Bell saw the Senators and Rocket get off to an exciting start, with chances at both ends of the ice, though Belleville would strike first.
Sustained pressure and a poke check by Jan Jenik caused a turnover in front of the net, leading to Arthur Kaliyev’s tenth goal of the season and a 1–0 lead. Later in the first frame, the Rocket answered back. David Reinbacher helped set up a Luke Tuch shot that was tipped in by Will Dineen for his first of the season, tying the game at 1–1.
Period two trended similarly to the first, though the Rocket earned their first lead of the game. Reinbacher recorded his second point of the night and his first goal of the season with help from Sean Farrell and Laurent Dauphin to make it 2-1 just past the midway point.
Belleville was quick to strike back, as nine seconds later the game was tied. Keean Washkurak dropped a pass to Scott Harrington, who fired a seeing-eye shot from the point that beat Kaapo Kahkonen to even it at 2-2.
Later in the period, with just over five minutes remaining, Tobie Bisson and Josh Didier fed Tuch for a shot that slipped past Mads Sogaard, giving Laval a 3-2 lead.
The final period saw the Rocket generate multiple chances, with Sogaard delivering a strong performance and the Senators tying the game late. An empty net in the Senators’ end helped create more pressure on the Rocket, as a Kaliyev shot was blocked, leading to a pass over to Xavier Bourgault to make it 3-3 and force overtime.
The five-minute frame saw a strong offensive attack from Laval, ending with a Rocket goal to close out the game. A mad scramble in the crease, helped along by Dauphin, forced the puck out to Adam Engstrom, who fired a shot through multiple Senators defenders to win the game 4–3.
The Senators will continue this in division rivalry on Saturday to wrap up their back-to-back in Quebec against the Laval Rocket (AHL affiliate of the Montreal Canadiens) for a 3:00 p.m. puck drop at Place Bell.
