Sens start the new season with road shutout of defending Calder Cup champions

The Belleville Senators opened the new season on Saturday night by spoiling the Hershey Bears banner raising party, picking up a 3-0 win at Giant Centre.

Despite being outshot heavily to start the game, following a couple of killed-off power plays, Cole Reinhardt opened the scoring for Belleville at 11:59. The Belleville Sens new c0-leader in all-time games played picked off a pass in the neutral zone and sped into the Hershey end, slipping a backhander past Clay Stevenson.

Belleville would extend the lead in the second, courtesy of a one-timed slap shot from defender Nikolas Matinpalo. The big Finnish defender hammered home is first North American pro goal, off a feed from Lassi Thomson. Former Bear Garrett Pilon earned his first point a Senator, with the second assist.

The Sens added some extra insurance with the net empty late in the third, when Roby Jarventie flipped a puck down the ice and it hit the post, only to be tapped in by an oncoming Angus Crookshank.

Fast Facts:

• Mads Sogaard made 30 saves to earn his first career AHL shutout
• Nikolas Matinpalo’s power play goal was the first of his North American pro career
• Garrett Pilon earned an assist in his first game against his former club
• Jacob Bernard-Docker played in his 100th career AHL game
• Nikolas Matinpalo, Jiri Smejkal, Tyler Kleven and Zack Ostapchuk played in their first career AHL games
• Cole Reinhardt and Egor Sokolov played in their 170th career AHL games, making them the new co-leaders in Belleville Sens franchise history, in games played.

Sound Bytes:

Belleville Sens Head Coach Dave Bell on tonight’s win:

“I like the fact of how quickly they’re coming together to support each other. Systematically we weren’t great, but the encouragement I’m listening to on the bench of guys picking eachother up and sticking together this quickly, that was pretty nice tonight.”

Belleville Sens Goaltender Mads Sogaard on his first AHL shutout:

“I’ve played here for a couple years without getting one, so it was awesome to get it out of the way in the first game of the season. I think it’s a big testament to how we played as a group and how well the guys in front of me played. It’s good to get it out of the way, but more importantly, we got the two points and we’re off to a good start.”

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. Further information on the Belleville Sens promotional schedule, special events and more, are set to be released in the coming weeks. The full 2023-24 Belleville Senators regular season schedule can be found by clicking here.