Senators celebrate home opener with 5-4 win over Rocket at CAA Arena

The Belleville Senators kicked off the home portion of the 2023-24 schedule with an entertaining 5-4 victory over the Laval Rocket (Montreal Canadiens) at CAA Arena on Saturday night.

Zack MacEwen scored twice, while Brennan Saulnier and Zack Ostapchuk had two points each and Mads Sogaard stopped 30 shots.

It didn’t take long for tempers to flair, as Belleville rookie Tyler Kleven dropped the mitts with Nathan Lagaré just 21 seconds after the puck dropped and the tilt seemed to spark the Sens. Graham McPhee grabbed the puck at the left circle and snapped a wrist shot past Strauss Mann at the 2:04 mark, for his first in a Sens uniform. MacEwen followed that up by picking the top corner, for the 100th point of his American Hockey League career and his first since joining Belleville, after clearing waivers from Ottawa on Friday. Laval’s Brandon Gignac would squeeze a shot past Sogaard with less than a minute left in the frame.

Laval’s Lias Andersson tied the game at two about 1:30 into the second period, but the Sens answered back just 11 seconds later, via Zack Ostapchuk’s first career AHL goal. Brennan Saulnier made it a two-goal lead, by batting in his first goal of the season at 13:09 of the period.

The Rocket scored early in the third as well as Logan Mailloux beat Sogaard 1:30 into the period. MacEwen would bury his second of the night at 16:50, with Ostapchuk and Cole Reinhardt assisting. Lias Andersson’s fifth goal of the young season rounded out the scoring.

Fast Facts:

• Forward Zack MacEwen notched his 100th and 101st AHL points in the victory
• Goaltender Mads Sogaard improved his record on the season to 2-0-0-0
• Forward Zack Ostapchuk scored his first career AHL goal
• Belleville was 0/4 on the power play and 5/5 on the penalty kill

Sound Bytes:

Belleville Sens Head Coach Dave Bell the win

“We probably could have played a lot better than we did, but a win’s a win, so we’ll take it and run with it. You’ve gotta give credit to our fourth line. They didn’t play a lot, but when we didn’t have momentum, they went out and got it and actually got us two goals.”

Belleville Sens forward Zack MacEwen on the victory:

““We did a lot of good things. Every time they bounced back at us, we responded the right way and were able to come out with two points. The atmosphere was great, the place was rocking, the fans were loud and energetic and that’s always fun.”

Media Availability:

Highlights:

Next Up:

The Senators return to practice on Monday in preparation for three more home games next week:

• Wednesday October 25, 2023 vs Milwaukee Admirals (Nashville Predators) – Winning Wednesday
• Friday October 27, 2023 vs Toronto Marlies (Toronto Maple Leafs) – Loyalist College Student & Alumni Night
• Saturday October 28, 2023 vs Toronto Marlies (Toronto Maple Leafs) – 90s Night presented by Hits 955

Ticket Info:

Tickets for all Belleville Sens home games through January 20, 2024, are now on sale online via the Belleville Sens Ticket Hub, or by emailing tickets@bellevillesens.com. Tickets for the second half of the season will be available for purchase beginning at 10:00 a.m. on Monday November 20, 2023, with information on hours for the Belleville Sens Box Office at the Quinte Sports and Wellness Centre, to be released later.

Fans looking to buy second half tickets can secure those seats now, by purchasing season seat memberships, flex packs,  group experiences or Business Elite memberships.

The full 2023-24 Belleville Senators regular season schedule can be found by clicking here.

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