The Belleville Senators finished off a tough Family Day Long Weekend on a high note, dispatching the visiting Syracuse Crunch (Tampa Bay Lightning) 5-2 on Monday afternoon, at CAA Arena.
It was a much needed victory for the B-Sens who were outplayed in a loss to the Marlies at home on Friday and then blew two four goal leads in Toronto on Saturday afternoon, before losing in overtime.
The win also snapped Syracuse’s six game point streak.
Josh Norris had a pair of goals for Belleville, his third two-goal game of the season, with Rudolfs Balcers, Joseph LaBate and Alex Formenton also scoring for the Senators.
Joey Daccord made 28 saves to earn his 13th win of the season.
Ross Colton and Alex Barre-Boulet netted the Syracuse goals, with Scott Wedgewood making 21 saves in the loss.
It took the Senators a little bit to get going in the first period.
They killed off two early penalties, before failing to score on a power play of their own.
Belleville’s best chance came on that power play with Erik Brannstrom splitting the D and getting a low shot on Wedgewood, who kicked it away with his left pad.
Shots on goal in the period favoured the Crunch 12-7.
Belleville Senators forward Rudolfs Balcers takes a shot, during a game against the Syrcause Crunch at CAA Arena, on February 17, 2020. (Photo: Jason Scourse/ Belleville Senators)
Syracuse would get the game’s first goal just 33 seconds into the second period on a power play that had continued on from the end of the first frame.
Ross Colton carried the puck over the blue line and beat Daccord clean from inside the far circle, to extend his point streak to three games.
Belleville got even on a power play of their own at 7:48.
Rudolfs Balcers and Filip Chlapik teamed up to force the puck down low on the near side and Jordan Szwarz zipped a pass across to Josh Norris who banged in his team-leading 27th goal of the season on to make it 1-1.
Belleville got another chance on an odd man rush, following a Syracuse two-man advantage, but Wedgewood made another good stop on Christian Jaros.
The Senators would hit their stride late in the frame, scoring two goals 36 seconds apart.
Balcers scored his 14th of the season at 15:10 of a faceoff win in the offensive zone.
Norris won the draw back to Erik Brannstrom, who hit Balcers with the pass and he finished from the far circle.
Then at 15:45 the Sens put some pressure on in front of the Syracuse net, leading to a tap-in for Joseph LaBate, his eighth of the year, to make it 3-1.
Belleville Senators forward Joseph LaBate had scored his eighth goal of the season, during a game against the Syracuse Crunch at CAA Arena, on February 17, 2020. (Photo: Jason Scourse / Belleville Senators)
The third period started with a flurry of action inside the first 5:00.
Belleville extended the lead to three goals only 1:03 into the frame for Norris’ second of the game, when he walked into the right side circle and fired a laser beam under the left arm of Wedgewood.
Formenton and Jaros assisted on the goal.
Then the Crunch answered a couple minutes later when Barre-Boulet hopped on a rebound and knocked it past Daccord, but just 17 seconds after that, Formenton would slip a breakaway backhand past Wedgewood to make it 5-2.
Syracuse would pull the goalie with about 3:00 in an attempt to dig into the Belleville lead, but they couldn’t and the Senators held on to snap their mini-slump and pick up the win.
Head Coach Troy Mann says his team did a much better job of managing the game, compared to Saturday afternoon in Toronto.
Norris, who leads rookies in shots on goal, credited his teammates with his success on Monday, but added that putting the puck on the net has been another big key for him in his first pro season.
Belleville continues a busy week on Wednesday in Rochester against the Americans (Buffalo Sabres) before returning home for games against the Utica Comets (Vancouver Canucks) on Friday and Manitoba Moose (Winnipeg Jets on Saturday).
800 AM CJBQ will have coverage of all of those games for Eastern Overhead Doors and Deerhaven Farm and Garden.
You can click here to see the box score from Monday afternoon and see highlights from the game below:
