Belleville Sens lose to Rocket in high-scoring affair

A difficult start hindered the Belleville Senators as they fell 7-4 to the Laval Rocket on Saturday afternoon at Place Bell.

Laval opened the scoring just 58 seconds into the contest as Anthony Richard capitalized on the man advantage. The Rocket would extend their advantage as Lucas Condotta and Alex Belzile both scored before the 6:27 mark of the period. Belleville would respond with a power play tally of their own when Angus Crookshank collected his ninth of the campaign. Later in the frame, Laval continued their strong offensive play when Richard tallied once again, this time on a shorthanded breakaway before Jesse Ylönen made it 5-1. Which prompted a goaltending change as Mads Søgaard replaced Antoine Bibeau.

In the second period, Belleville showed their resolve and started to mount a comeback as both Rourke Chartier, and Scott Sabourin found the back of the net to make it 5-3 after forty minutes of play.

The high-scoring affair resumed in the third when Rocket forward Brandon Gignac scored at the 9:42 mark of the stanza. However, once again, Belleville answered as Sabourin collected his second of the game with a one-timer from the high slot. Despite a late push from the Senators, Rafaël Harvey-Pinard secured a Laval victory with an empty net goal.

Sens On Special Teams: 

Power Play: 2/8 | Penalty Kill: 5/7

Fast Facts: 

• Mads Søgaard made 20 saves in relief.
• Maxence Guenette has four assists in his last three games.
• Egor Sokolov has three helpers in his last two appearances.
• Rourke Chartier notched his team-leading 14 goal of the campaign.
• Angus Crookshank recorded his sixth multi-point performance of the season.
• Jake Lucchini skated in his 200th career AHL game.
• Lassi Thomson appeared in his 100th career AHL contest.

Highlights:  

Sound Bytes: Head Coach Troy Mann:  “We didn’t control momentum swings in that first period very well, and consequently, we fell behind. The resilience of the team, as we’ve talked about all year, is certainly one of our strengths, and there was no quit. We fought back to make it a game.”

Ticket info: Tickets for all Belleville Sens home games are available via Ticketmaster or at the CAA Arena Box Office.