The B-Sens began their game against the Bridgeport Islanders Saturday night behind the eight ball as they were missing fourteen players from their roster.
Despite that, they gritted out a 3-2 win over the visiting Bridgeport Islanders.
Numerous players were missing due to call-ups to the NHL’s Ottawa Senators, who are battling a COVID-19 outbreak, as well as injuries.
One player, Christopher Wilkie, even arrived from the Rockford IceHogs via trade just hours before game time.
In the first period it took until the final minute of play for either team to get on the board and it was Cody Goloubef, who played with Belleville last season and was playing his first hockey game of the year, who scored on the power play to make it 1-0 Senators.
Newcomer Wilkie and Cole Reinhardt drew assists on the goal.
Much of the same was seen in the second period as it wasn’t until the 16th minute of the frame when Bridgeport answered to knot the game at one with a goal by winger Arnaud Durandeau.
Belleville managed just five shots on goal in the second period to Bridgeport’s 13 and the tie held into the second intermission.
Just six-and-a-half minutes into the third period Wilkie notched his first goal in a Belleville uniform in his first game, as well as his second point on the night, when he scored past Islanders goalie Cory Schneider to retake the lead for Belleville.
Six minutes later the Islanders answered once again when centre Austin Czarnik solved Belleville goaltender Mads Sogaard to knot it at two goals apiece.
It was Belleville’s Roby Jarventie who played hero for the depleted Senators when he tipped in his third goal of the year with under five minutes left in the game, which held up as the winner in a 3-2 win for the Senators.
Wilkie led the way for the B-Sens with one goal and one assist but the first star honours went to Sogaard as the six-foot-seven Dane stood tall in the crease all night, stopping 32 of 34 shots faced to secure his third win of the season.
After the game, Belleville Head Coach Troy Mann spoke about battling the adversity of a depleted lineup.
“The amount of adversity we’ve faced here for a number of weeks, but specifically here in the last couple of weeks … I thought our team competed hard from start to finish. Obviously, getting goals after they were able to tie it was key and that was certainly something where the team never quit and kept believing we could win the hockey game. It was a nice effort by, really, the whole lineup.”
The win brings the B-Sens to 5-7-0-0 on the season and comes ahead of a true test on Sunday night.
Less than 24 hours after the emotional win over Bridgeport, the Senators have a matinee matchup with the undefeated Utica Comets on Sunday at CAA Arena.
The puck drops at 3 p.m. with live coverage happening on 800 CJBQ.
