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AHL Belleville Senators

Sens Return Home to Beat Laval

December 27, 2018 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Belleville Senators News Release


The Belleville Senators returned home after an eight-game road trip and did so in style with a 6-4 win over the Laval Rocket.

Jack Rodewald (2), Tobias Lindberg, Joseph LaBate, Max McCormick and Drake Batherson scored for the Senators while Filip Gustavsson made 23 saves. Laval's Etienne Marcoux turned aside 28 shots while Michael McCarron (2), Alex Grenier and Cale Fleury scored.

Tied at 3-3 heading into the final 20, it took all of 36 seconds for Belleville to take the lead. Rodewald blocked a shot before taking a McCormick feed to skate in on a breakaway where he beat Marcoux blocker side for his 10th of the year.

Rodewald would notch his second of the night at 9:44 as he beat Marcoux on a penalty shot to push the Sens lead to 5-3.

Laval cut the deficit to 5-4 with 1:13 left as McCarron redirected a point shot past Gustavsson with the extra attacker out before Batherson potted an empty-netter with 4.7 seconds left.

It took just 6:42 for Belleville to grab the lead as Lindberg skated high and let the puck fly from just inside the blue-line as it evaded traffic and beat Etienne low for his second goal in a Sens jersey.

The Rocket tied the game at 9:58 on the power play as McCarron tipped home an Xavier Ouellett point shot for his sixth goal of the season to make it 1-1.

Belleville re-took the lead through LaBate at 11:28 as Marcoux couldn't handle Gabriel Gagne's shot as the British Columbia native banked the puck in for his third goal of the year. Laval again would find an equalizer though, and it came on the man advantage once more, as Grenier buried a one-timer at the back door at 13:25 off of Daniel Audette's centering pass.

A manic first period ended with the Sens taking a 3-2 lead into the break as with 22 seconds left McCormick centered a pass from behind the net after collecting his own rebound and it hit the inside part of Marcoux's pad and trickled over the line for his second of the season.

Belleville nearly pushed its lead to 4-2 through LaBate as he rung the crossbar in the opening minutes of the second while Gustavsson made a big right pad save on Lukas Vejdemo in close after the Rocket forward had driven the net. Laval found its tying goal with 54.4 seconds left in the frame as Fleury let a low drive go from the blue line that squeaked through Gustavsson to make it 3-3 after 40 minutes.

Sens captain Erik Burgdoerfer, as well as Aaron Luchuk, left the game in the first period and did not return with lower-body injuries.

Belleville is back in action Saturday when they host the Binghamton Devils at CAA Arena. Tickets are available.

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American Hockey League Stories from December 27, 2018


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