Senators snap skid and head into holiday break with win over rival Marlies

The Christmas holidays will be a little merrier for the Belleville Senators, who head into the break on a winning note, after defeating the Toronto Marlies 4-3 at CAA Arena on Friday night.

It wasn’t a great start for the Sens, who gave up the game’s first goal just over a minute into the game. Former Belleville captain Logan Shaw knocked in a rebound after a Kieffer Bellows shot. But Belleville answered just 26 seconds later, through Tyler Boucher’s first career AHL goal, coming off the wall and beating Dennis Hildeby with a long shot.

Kyle Clifford put Toronto Back in front midway through the second, but Roby Jarventie would deflect in a pass from Garrett Pilon inside the frame’s final minute, to tie it again, 2-2.

Belleville took it’s first lead 25 seconds into the third period, by way of a Zack Ostapchuk goal, finishing off a nice dump-and-chase play with Cole Reinhardt and Egor Sokolov. Clifford would add his second with under three minutes left to tie it, but Belleville responded less than a minute later again, getting the game-winner from Matt Highmore.

Fast Facts:

• The Senators head into the Christmas break with a .500 winning percentage (11-11-2-2)
• #10 Zack Ostapchuk scored his sixth goal of the season and had three shots on goal
• #16 Tyler Boucher scored his first career AHL goal
• #22 Garrett Pilon had two assists, giving him three points over his last two games
• #31 Kevin Mandolese earned his third win of the season, making 31 saves on 34 shots
• #34 Roby Jarventie scored his fifth goal of the season to give him a three game point streak (one goal, two assists)
• Belleville was 0/2 on the power play and 3/3 on the penalty kill

Highlights:

Sound Bytes:

Belleville Sens Head Coach Dave Bell on the difference between tonight’s win and Thursday’s loss:

“I think we competed and were ready to play. And we stuck to the game plan of putting the puck in and going to work. We’ve got some big bodies that bought into that, guys like Roby and Pilon, Soko, and Rhino and they’re hard to get the puck off of. They had success with it and stuck with it for 60 minutes.”

Belleville Sens forward Tyler Boucher on his team’s play tonight:

“That was a real character win for our team. It was a great bounce back and says a lot about what’s in our room and how we compete. We just had everybody on board tonight. We were really positive after a bit of a wake up call last night, and I think the older guy sin our room were leading well. It was a great team effort, Mando played really well and I’m really happy we got this one before the break.”

Media Availabilities:

Up Next:

• Tuesday December 26, 2023 @ Toronto Marlies (Toronto Maple Leafs) – 7:00 p.m. (ScotiaBank Arena)
• Thursday December 28, 2023 vs Laval Rocket (Montreal Canadiens) – 7:00 p.m. (Indigenous Communities Night)
• Saturday December 30, 2023 @ Toronto Marlies (Toronto Maple Leafs) – 4:00 p.m.

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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