The Belleville Senators home woes continued on Saturday night as they got walloped 7-3 by the division rival Toronto Marlies, who scored six unanswered goals, at CAA Arena.
The B-Sens are now 7-9-0-0 at home on the season and showed some signs of fatigue, as they were playing their third match in four nights, while the Marlies hadn’t played since last Sunday.
Josh Norris, Drake Batherson and Filip Chlapik all scored for the Senators, with seven different Marlies finding the net.
It took just :26 seconds for the Marlies to get their first goal.
Pontus Aberg, recently return from the NHL Maple Leafs, threw the puck at the net from a tough angle off the far boards and it squeaked past Gustavsson.
Adam Brooks and Martin Marincin were also returned by the Maple Leafs before Saturday’s game.
But Belleville would settle down and Josh Norris would get a lucky bounce at 7:29 to even the score.
He took a nice pass on the rush in the slot from Batherson on the right side and tried to slide a pass off to Hubert Labrie trailing on the play and it went off the stick of a Toronto defender and past Joseph Woll to tie the game.
Belleville would take the lead less than 5:00 later.
Trent Bourque fed the puck from behind the net, to Vitaly Abramov on the far wall, who chipped it along to Batherson and the AHL’s leading point-getter split the defence and broke in to wire a wrist shot home and make it 2-1.
Bourque’s assist was the first point of his professional career.
Belleville Senators forward Drake Batherson waits for a pass, during a game against the Toronto Marlies at CAA Arena, on December 21, 2019. (Photo: Jason Scourse / Belleville Senators)
It was Belleville scoring first in the second period with Chlapik getting his 3rd goal of the season to increase the lead to 3-1.
Bourque started the play again behind the Belleville net and worked it along to Max Veronneau on the boards, who found Rudolfs Balcers and he sent a pass across the goalmouth to Chlapik, who beat Woll with a low wrist shot.
The assist from Balcers extends his franchise-record point streak to 15 games and snapped a pointless drought for Veronneau dating back to December 7.
But Toronto would start its push back with three goals in the period including two on a long two-man advantage.
First, former Senator Darren Archibald cut the lead to 3-2 at 7:28 when he picked up a loose puck at the top of the far circle and beat Gustavsson with a wrist shot.
Then, with two B-Sens in the box, Timothy Liljegren and Nick Petan both buried power play goals 25 seconds apart to make it 4-3 at the end of the second period.
Troy Mann decided to pull Gustavsson heading into the third period, the third time he’s been taken out of a game this season, with Joey Daccord coming in to relieve him.
Mann would later say that Gustavsson hadn’t been feeling well and decided to come out of the game after speaking with medical staff at the intermission.
The goaltending change didn’t make much difference though, as Kenny Agostino dangled around a B-Sens defender and beat Daccord high, at about the 2:00 mark of the period, to make it 5-3.
Toronto would up the lead to 6-3 with Hudson Elynuik finishing a play at the side of the Belleville net at 6:25 and the Marlies would round out the scoring on a Mason Marchment penalty shot inside the final 4:00 minutes.
Josh Norris of the Belleville Senators and Tyler Gaudet of the Toronto Marlies, follow the play during a game at CAA Arena, on December 21, 2019. (Photo: Jason Scourse / Belleville Senators)
Belleville outshot the Marlies 31-23 and finished the game 0-for-7 on the power play, while Toronto was 2-for-5
Senators Head Coach Troy Mann called the loss a missed opportunity.
During the second intermission forward Joseph LaBate told CJBQ that his team needs to be more disciplined.
As far as the affect of the busy schedule on the team’s energy, Mann wasn’t using that as an excuse.
The Senators are off until Boxing Day, when they’ll face the Marlies again, at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.
800 CJBQ’s coverage begins that afternoon at 2:50 p.m. for Eastern Overhead Doors and Deerhaven Farm and Garden.
You can click here to see the box score from Saturday night and see highlights from the game below.
