For the first time in franchise history, the Belleville Senators were victorious in a season opener as they defeated the Laval Rocket 6-5 in overtime at Place Bell on Friday night.
Rourke Chartier scored the game-winning goal at 4:32 of overtime, while Jayce Hawryluk, Lassi Thomson, Kristian Rubins, Roby Jarventie and Viktor Lodin all tallied for the Senators in regulation time. Kevin Mandolese made 24 saves to record the win.
Despite allowing the opening goal of the contest at the 4;16 mark of the first period, during a sequence in which starting goalie Mads Sogaard was injured. The Belleville Senators were able to silence the crowd, evening the score a minute later to take a tie into the intermission. In the second, Belleville would strike three more times throughout the frame as they took a 4-2 lead after forty minutes of play. The Senators scored once more in the earlier portion of the third. However, the hard-working Rocket continued to fight back to force overtime.
The two teams will meet again for the second half of a back-to-back on Saturday at CAA Arena.
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