The Belleville Senators staged a furious third period comeback to beat the Toronto Marlies 5-3 and take possession of the fourth and final playoff spot in the North division.
On Monday afternoon at Scotiabank Arena, Marcus Hogberg made 22 saves while Drake Batherson (2), Jim O’Brien, Vitaly Abramov and Nick Paul scored. Toronto’s Michael Hutchinson turned away five shots before Kasimir Kaskisuo stopped 28 shots. Jeremy Bracco, Vincent LoVerde and Adam Brooks scored.
Trailing 3-2 heading into the third period, Belleville tied the game for the third time on the afternoon with 6:54 to play through Batherson who lifted a backhander past Kaskisuo for his 20th goal of the year.
The Sens had its first lead of the game with 4:06 to play through Paul who wired a wrister top shelf past Kaskisuo’s blocker for his 13th of the season as the Senators grabbed a 4-3 lead.
Batherson secured the win with an empty-net goal at 18:14 which also set a franchise record for goals in a season as he buried his 21st.
It was a wild opening two minutes to the game as the Marlies capitalized on a Sens turnover in their own zone for Bracco to score into a wide-open net 31 seconds in off of Timothy Liljegren’s cross-ice pass. But the Sens had an equalizer at 1:48 through O’Brien’s first of the season as he beat Hutchinson five-hole from the right circle to make it a 1-1 game before Joseph LaBate and Rich Clune dropped the gloves right off the ensuing faceoff.
After Kaskisuo replaced Hutchinson to start the second period, Toronto took a 2-1 lead at 9:53 through LoVerde as he ripped one past Hogberg but Belleville again tied the game as Abramov buried a sensational Adam Tambellini pass back door at 15:30.
However, the hosts took a 3-2 lead only 2:10 later on the power play as with Abramov in the box, Brooks converted.
The Senators are now 7-1-1-1 against Toronto this season.
