SENATORS
Belleville

4-5

CRUNCH
Syracuse

Lineup

Forward lines and defense pairings: 

[one_half]Paul – O’Brien – DiDomenico
McCormick – Chlapik – Rodewald
Perron – Kelly – White
Werek – Reinhart – Randell[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Sieloff – Burgdoerfer
Englund – Jaros
Murray – Erkamps[/one_half_last]

Goaltenders:
Hammond
Driedger

Scratches: Daniel Ciampini, Max Lajoie, Justin Vaive, Gabriel Gagne, Danny Taylor

Injured Reserve: Mike Blunden, Kyle Flanagan, Ben Sexton

Game Report

The Belleville Senators got right back to work after a tough loss Friday night at the hands of the Toronto Marlies. They were in Syracuse for a battle with the crunch Saturday night, looking to get back on track.

Like the night before, they did not get off to a good start. Just over two minutes into the action, Dominic Masin fired a slapshot that beat Andrew Hammond, after the puck rebounded off the end boards straight to him to make it 1-0 Crunch.

But the Senators did strike back later in the frame when Max McCormick and Filip Chlapik worked a beautiful two-on-one to even the score. However, with less than a minute remaining in the first, Mitchell Stephens put a rather harmless looking shot towards Hammond that found its way past him to restore the Syracuse lead. At the end of one, the Senators trailed 2-1.

The second period got off to a better start for the Senators. Francis Perron set up Colin White at the tail end of a Senators man advantage to tie it up just two minutes into the frame. But after that goal, it was all Crunch again.

They had long stretches of extended pressure in the Belleville zone and that eventually led to Mat Bodie finding the loose puck in front of Hammond to make it 3-2. Though being out-shot 25-7 through two, the Senators only trailed by one after 40 minutes of play.

The third period was all Senators. They opened the period on the power play which quickly became a two-man advantage after a Michael Bournival hooking infraction. With the extra space, Nick Paul set up Chris DiDomenico for a one-time blast to tie it up 3-3. Then just under three minutes later, DiDomenico returned the favor, setting up Paul to give the Senators their first lead of the night.

Belleville looked to be in good condition but with just over two minutes remaining, Jack Rodewald got nailed for a questionable tripping penalty. The Crunch pulled Connor Ingram to give themselves a six-on-four advantage, which they made the most of. Adam Erne equalized to send the game to overtime.

The overtime period was also dominated by the Senators. The best chance of the sudden death period came when Paul sliced through the Crunch defense but was denied by Ingram. Overtime solved nothing, as these teams needed a shootout.

In the shootout, Ingram outlasted Hammond in the seven round marathon. Ty Loney scored the winner as the Crunch beat the Senators 5-4.

Despite a poor start, the Senators played very well in the third period and overtime. They had to settle for a single point in a tough shootout loss. Belleville will have an entire week off to examine this loss before they return home to host Syracuse.

▲ Nick Paul, Chris DiDomenico, Christian Jaros

▼

1. Ty Loney SYR
2. Adam Erne  SYR
3. Nick Paul  BEL

Quotes courtesy of AHL Report

First game with the @SyracuseCrunch + game-winning shootout goal = a great debut for Ty Loney. #BELvsSYR pic.twitter.com/DYH1EARamz

— AHL (@TheAHL) December 3, 2017

RECAP | Marlies – Senators: Power Play Woes Haunt Belleville https://t.co/xBPxSczX0H pic.twitter.com/tBV9tPw0TU

— AHL Report (@TheAHLReport) December 2, 2017

From the Press Box | Rocket Reactions, A Special Visitor, Top 5 Hockey Grub [Podcast S1/E11] https://t.co/N7ZfpocULV pic.twitter.com/UEBSLAiyRU

— AHL Report (@TheAHLReport) November 28, 2017

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