Senators snap back at Monsters and pick up overtime victory

The Belleville Senators got some payback on the Cleveland Monsters, after their Friday loss to their divisional rival, picking up a 2-1 overtime victory at CAA Arena on Sunday afternoon.

Cleveland defender Jake Christiansen started the scoring around the 5:00 mark of the first, firing a wrist shot past Leevi Merilainen, but the Sens would answer in the final minute of the period. Egor Sokolov had three good chances to score on the power play, eventually converting on the third attempt, as he beat Pavel Cajan through a crowd, with a scramble around the goal mouth. Max Guenette and Angus Crookshank would earn the assists.

There would be no scoring again until the 1:05 mark of overtime, with the same three Senators players connecting on the game-winning scoring play. Guenette and Sokolov kept the play alive in the corner, with Guenette zipping a pass across to Crookshank, and the North Vancouver, BC native took the bounce off his skate to his stick, and snapped his first career overtime winner past Cajan.

Fast Facts:

• The Senators were 1/4 on the power play and 2/2 on the penalty kill.
• Leevi Merilainen stopped 37 of 38 shots he faced, to earn his second win of the season and was named the game’s first star.
• Angus Crookshank scored the first overtime winning goal of his career and was named the game’s third star.
• Egor Sokolov (one goal, one assist), Angus Crookshank (one goal, one assist) and Max Guenette (two assists) all had multi-point games.

Sound Bytes:

Head Coach Dave Bell on his team’s response from Friday’s loss:

“They had some emotion going. I think they were ticked off at their performance from Friday, so they wanted to have a response game, and I think they did. I think it was probably, over the course of our first 11 games, the most sustained pressure we’ve had on the O-zone over and over.”

Forward Egor Sokolov on the victory:

“You can see the difference. We dominated the last 12 minutes of the second period and could have put in four or five goals. I thought we were just organized and connected all over the ice.”

Media Availabilities:

Highlights:

Next Up:

• Wednesday November 15, 2023 @ Laval Rocket (Montreal Canadiens) – 7:05 p.m.
• Friday November 17, 2023 vs Manitoba Moose (Winnipeg Jets) – 7:00 p.m.
• Saturday November 18, 2023 vs Lehigh Valley Phantoms (Philadelphia Flyers) – 7:00 p.m. (Hockey Fights Cancer)

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

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