Belleville Sens come back to earn point in Milwaukee

The Belleville Senators continue to never back down, coming from behind again to earn a point in Milwaukee, with a 4-3 shootout loss to the Admirals on Wednesday night.

Belleville killed off an early power play and then put a handful of chances on Yaroslav Askarov in the Milwaukee net. However, it was the Admirals who would break through first. Mark Jankowski beat Kevin Mandolese for his 12th goal of the season at 15:03, for the Belleville netminder’s only blemish in the period.

Milwaukee would tack on two more goals early in the second by way of rebound finishes from Jasper Weatherby, and Jankowski’s second of the night. But, Boko Imama would get the Sens on the board after some fantastic work on the forecheck, wrapping around to slip the puck between Askarov’s legs and make it 3-1 before the end of the second.

The Senators would storm back in the third period to force overtime, through late-period goals from Angus Crookshank and Tyler Boucher. Crookshank capitalized on a goal-mouth scramble on the power play at 15:58, then Boucher would wrap around his second of the season to tie the game inside the final two minutes of play.

Both clubs had four shots in overtime, but neither could break through to win the game. Egor Sokolov and Matt Highmore would score for Belleville in the shootout, with Milwaukee countering through goals by Jordan Gross, Zach L’Heureux and Liam Foudy.

Fast Facts:

• #8 Tarun Fizer recorded his second assist of the season
• #9 Angus Crookshank scored his 11th goal of the season, to extend his point streak to three games (one goal, two assists). He also added five shots on goal
• #12 Boko Imama scored his second goal of the season
• #15 Matt Highmore recorded his 12th assist of the season and had four shots on goal
• #16 Tyler Boucher scored his second goal of the season and was named the game’s second star
• #22 Garrett Pilon recorded his 14th assist of the season
• #31 Kevin Mandolese stopped 23/25 shots against and made 4/7 saves in the shootout
• The Senators were 1/5 on the power play and 1/1 on the ViewTech Window and Door penalty kill

Highlights:

Sound Bytes:

Belleville Sens Assistant Coach Chris Dennis on his club’s ability to come back and stay in games:

“I think they believe in one another and in what we’re doing. The bench was positive, I thought our power play had some chances in the second and got us going a bit. Boko had a huge goal for us and the belief was there. They stuck with it, so good on them.”

Belleville Sens Assistant Coach Chris Dennis on continuing the road trip in Grand Rapids later this week:

“I think we’ve got half of a game to really build on. We played the right way, we played hard and we played together. So, we can take that with us into Grand Rapids and hopefully build on it.”

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Up Next:

• Friday January 26, 2024 @ Grand Rapids Griffins (Detroit Red Wings) – 7:00 p.m. ET
• Saturday January 27, 2024 @ Grand Rapid Griffins (Detroit Red Wings) – 7:00 p.m. ET
• Friday February 2, 2024 @ Syracuse Crunch (Tampa Bay Lightning) – 7:00 p.m. ET
• Saturday February 3, 2024 @ Syracuse Crunch (Tampa Bay Lightning) – 7:00 p.m. ET