Senators lose in Sunday matinee

 After an action-packed 5-4 win on home ice Saturday night over Utica, the Belleville Senators were back at it Sunday afternoon taking on the visiting Syracuse Crunch, but fell 5-2.

The Sens opened the scoring on the power play just 6:24 into the first period when Jeremy Davies stepped inside the blue line and slapped one past Crunch goalie Matt Tomkins to make it 1-0.

Syracuse would even things up at 1-1 in the second period when Joel Teasdale scored on the power play after he backhanded a rebound past Mads Sogaard who had just been sent back to Belleville this morning after seeing some action for Ottawa last Monday against the Los Angeles Kings in a wild 8-7 Sens win in overtime.

Both teams began the third period playing 4-on-4 following two separate fights after the buzzer had sounded to end the second period which led to Syracuse jumping out to a 2-1 lead just 1:14 in with Crunch defensemen Derrick Pouliot poking a rebound past Sogaard.

Then things went from bad to worse when Sogaard was injured on the play and had to be helped off the ice by his teammates and the trainer.

Sogaard was replaced by Leevi Merilainen who backstopped the Sens to their win the night before.

Belleville appeared to have levelled the score at 2-2 just past the eight minute mark when a puck got past Tomkins in the Syracuse net and looked to have crossed the goal line but it was waved off by the referee and play continued even though the horn had sounded to signify a goal.

Syracuse would make it 3-1 while on the power play when Lucas Edmonds placed a wrist shot in the top corner past Merilainen which looked to have put the game out of reach.

However, Sens captain Garret Pilon would inject the home crowd with life after a shorthanded goal at 16:07 which cut the lead to 3-2 following a lovely length of the ice pass from Nikolas Matinpalo.

Unfortunately, the Sens excitement would be short-lived when Pouliot scored his second of the game for Syracuse (once again on the power play) just over a minute later to push the lead to 4-2 with just under three minutes remaining.

Syracuse would add another at the 19:34 mark by Dylan Duke to give the Crunch a 5-2 win.

You can click here for Sunday’s full box score.

Fast Facts:

• #4 Jeremy Davies scored his second goal of the season.
• #22 Garret Pilon had a goal and an assist and how has four points this season.
• #17 Stephen Halliday had an assist which is his second point this season.
• #52 Nikolas Matinpalo had an assist which is his second point this season.
• #20 Zack Ostapchuk had an assist which is his fourth point of this season.
• Belleville outshot Syracuse 32-23.
• Syracuse scored three of their five goals on the power play.
• Belleville was 1/5 on the Lifestyle Home Products Power and 4/7 on the ViewTech Windows and Doors penalty kill.

Belleville Sens Head Coach Dave Bell on the result:

“I think we need to create chances for a full 60 minutes and I don’t know if we had any in the third, outside of the shorthanded goal. I don’t have a lot of great thoughts.”

Belleville Sens Head Coach Dave Bell on the play of Jeremy Davies:

“He’s a good player and came ready to play. That’s what veteran guys are supposed to do and that’s what they get paid to do. So, he’s toeing the line, that’s for sure.”
Belleville Sens Head Coach Dave Bell on the busy penalty kill:

“It’s a broken record. Those guys are trying, but it’s ridiculous that we use our six killers who do an unbelievable job, but at some point, they’re going to get tired and the odds are against you that you’re going to give up goals. And then it just wrecks the rest of the game, because they’re taxed and tired, and the guys that aren’t killing are cold. It just doesn’t make for good team hockey.”

See game highlights here.