Belleville Sens stretch point streak in overtime loss to Griffins

The Belleville Senators stole a point from the Grand Rapids Griffins on Saturday in a 4-3 overtime loss at CAA Arena.

Mads Sogaard made 40 saves and three different Senators found the net, as Belleville extended its point streak to six games on the Club’s annual Teddy Bear Toss Night. Garrett Pilon scored the goal to send the teddies flying at the 16:00 minute mark of the first after Jarid Lukosevicius burst down the wing and found him with a cross-net pass. 

Angus Crookshank extended the lead early in the second by deking a Griffins defender and tucking the puck up high on Michael Hutchinson. But Grand Rapids’ Marco Kasper would tie things before the end of the frame, before Nolan Stevens struck twice in the third period, to put the Griffins ahead 3-2. Nicolas Matinpalo scored from the right point with under 8:00 minutes left to force overtime.

Belleville was put on the power play in overtime, but Dominik Shine was able to get in on a breakaway and end the game 1:11 into the extra frame.

Fast Facts:

• #8 Tarun Fizer recorded his first career American Hockey League point (one assist)
• #9 Angus Crookshank started a new three-game point streak (one goal, three assists) and has points in 14 of hits last 17 games
• #22 Garrett Pilon extended his point streak to six games (five goals, three assists)
• #40 Mads Sogaard made 40+ saves for the third time this season
• #46 Ryan MacKinnon has points in back-to-back games (two assists)
• #52 Nikolas Matinpalo recorded his first multi-point game in the American Hockey League (one goal, one assist)
• The Senators  are 4-0-1-1 on their current six game point streak

Highlights:

Sound Bytes:

Belleville Sens Head Coach Dave Bell on his feelings after the loss:

“I’m embarrassed, disappointed, it just wasn’t good enough. The game was there to be had. It was the same we played last night, one of their top players was out. It was there for us to take and we took a step back.”

Belleville Sens Forward Garrett Pilon the loss:

“I think we were lucky to come out of that game with a point and obviously, we need to be a lot better as a team. Sogy had to make a ton of big saves with them putting up 40+ shots and I don’t even think we broke 15. We’ll take the point as a positive, but we’ll have a lot of things to work on come Monday.”

Media Availabilities:

Next Up:

• Thursday December 14, 2023 @ Cleveland Monsters (Columbus Blue Jackets) – 7:00 p.m.
• Friday December 15, 2023 @ Cleveland Monsters (Columbus Blue Jackets) – 7:00 p.m.
• Thursday December 21, 2023 vs Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (Pittsburgh Penguuins) – 7:00 p.m.
• Friday December 22, 2023 vs Toronto Marlies (Toronto Maple Leafs) – 7:00 p.m. (Holiday Celebration Game)
• Tuesday December 26, 2023 @ Toronto Marlies (Toronto Maple Leafs) – 7:00 p.m. (ScotiaBank Arena)

Ticket Info:

Tickets for all Belleville Sens home games for the remainder of the 2023-24 season are now on sale online, via Ticketmaster or the Belleville Sens Ticket Hub, by visiting the Belleville Sens Box Office at the Quinte Sports & Wellness Centre, or by emailing tickets@bellevillesens.com. Box Office hours are available by clicking here.

Fans can also click the following links for more information on season seat memberships, flex packs, group experiences or Business Elite memberships, or send an email to tickets@bellevillesens.com.

The full 2023-2024 Belleville Senators regular season schedule can be found by clicking here.

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