The Belleville Senators suffered a tough start and couldn’t overcome it in a 3-1 loss to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on Saturday night at CAA Arena
With several girls’ hockey teams in attendance participating in the Belleville Bearcats New Year’s Classic Tournament as part of Women in Sports night, the group fell behind 2-0 after one on goals from Ty Murchison and Helge Grans.
The Phantoms tacked on one more early in the second courtesy of Jacob Gaucher and then turned the game over to goaltender Carson Bjarnason to help keep them out in front.
Arthur Kaliyev continued his red hot scoring season by hitting the Lehigh Valley twine on a powerplay at 4:03 for his 21st of the season from former Phantom Olle Lycksell and Xavier Bourgault, but the Sens could not get any closer.
The Phantoms locked down the victory, outshooting Belleville 27-25, with Mads Sogaard stopping 24 in a losing effort.
The Sens have a light week before a busy three-in-three weekend, starting in Toronto at 7 p.m. on Friday.


