A pair of back-to-back shorthanded markers helped pace the Belleville Senators to a 6-5 win over the Rochester Americans, in a feisty and physical battle, at CAA Arena on Saturday night.
Belleville opened the scoring through captain Logan Shaw after he broke in alone, to beat Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen shorthanded at the 13:21 mark of the first period. The Senators continued to extend their lead as Cole Reinhardt notched another shorthanded tally. Jake Lucchini would also find the back of the net to give Belleville a 3-0 lead heading into the intermission.
The second frame saw Belleville and Rochester trade goals before the mid-way point of the period. Amerks’ forward Peter Tischke got the visitors on the board at 5:32. Less than three minutes later, the Senators restored their two-goal advantage when Matthew Wedman redirected his ninth of the season off a low feed from Jacob Bernard-Docker.
Mark Kastelic kick-started a high-scoring final twenty minutes of play scoring his ninth goal of the season. Rochester began mounting their comeback, scoring three unanswered goals to cut Belleville’s lead to 5-4. The tallying continued as Micheal Del Zotto made it 6-4, and set a franchise record for goals in a season by a defenceman with ten. The Amerks once again cut the deficit to one, with the goaltender pulled. In spite of the late push, Belleville held on to earn three out of a possible four points over their two-game weekend set with Rochester.
Post-game, head coach Troy Mann said, “I thought both games we came out with a purpose, we didn’t really like our game in Hartford, and that was a tough one to get up for even though you need points, but these last two games, we talked a lot about having the opportunity to potential catch Rochester and the only way you can catch them is to beat them.”
The Belleville Senators return to action Wednesday afternoon, hosting the Providence Bruins.
