Senators push to the final minute in 5-3 road defeat to Crunch

The Belleville Senators wrapped up their road trip by opening a home-and-home series in Syracuse against the Crunch, falling in a close 5-3 contest.

It was a quick start to the game, as the Crunch opened the scoring. A pass at the blue line from Brandan Furry sent Maxim Groshev in on the far circle, where he buried his third of the year to make it 1-0. Just past the ten minute mark, Belleville got on the board. After a battle down low, Oskar Pettersson swung the puck up to Scott Harrington, who fed Carter Yakemchuk. Yakemchuk’s shot through traffic found its way through to tie the game at 1-1. Syracuse was able to regain the lead late in the period. Following sustained pressure in the offensive zone, a pass down low from Tristan Allard to Matteo Pietroniro set up a cross-ice dish to Lucas Mercuri at the side of the net, making it a 2-1 game.

In the second frame, Syracuse increased their lead just over halfway through the period. Milo Roelens forced a turnover along the boards and got the puck to Ethan Gauthier in the slot, putting the Crunch up by two, 3-1.

The third period saw Belleville get a chance on the power play, and they capitalized. Carter Yakemchuk doubled his goal total after walking in and beating Jon Gillies, with assists from Stephen Halliday and Philippe Daoust, cutting the deficit to 3-2. Later on, the Crunch answered with a power-play goal of their own. A tip at the side of the net by Gauthier, set up by passing low in the zone from Conor Geekie and Jakob Pelletier, helped Syracuse regain their two-goal cushion, 4-2. The game would see another man-advantage marker, with the Senators striking right back late. Quick puck movement by Halliday and Xavier Bourgault led to a circle-to-circle feed to Arthur Kaliyev, who scored his twenty-ninth of the season to pull Belleville within one, 4-3. The Senators battled late into the contest, but Syracuse was able to secure an empty-net tally courtesy of Mitchell Chaffee to seal a 5-3 final score.

Belleville will get right back at it tomorrow night against the Crunch in their first game at CAA Arena since January 16th. Puck drop is set for 7:00 p.m. These two teams will meet again on February 18th for a Winning Wednesday matchup back at CAA Arena, their sixth meeting of the season, starting at 6:00 p.m.