The Belleville Senators kicked off their home-and-home series with the Laval Rocket in a heavy-hitting and physical affair at Place Bell Friday night, that ended in a 5-2 loss.
Laval would score the only goal of the first, by way of Lucas Condotta, beating Leevi Merilainen on a two-on-one rush. Sens defenceman Tyler Kleven tied the game with his second of the season early in the second stanza, splitting the defence and chipping the puck under the arm of Jakub Dobes.
Laval countered with two quick goals from Philippe Maillet and Jan Mysak, before Jacob Larsson would bury his fifth of the year. The big defenceman got in offensively, after a sweet give-and-go in the neutral zone with Angus Crookshank and tucked it between the legs of the Laval netminder to make it 3-2 after two periods. Things turned chippy after that, with the divisional rivals combining for 37 penalty minutes in the period.
The physicality continued into the third period as well, with fights between Belleville Captain Dillon Heatherington and Lucas Condotta, along with Brennan Saulnier tangling with Arber Xhekaj. Laval would score twice more, Mysak’s second of the game at 4:17 and then an empty net goal by Brandon Gignac in the final minutes.
The two teams will meet again tomorrow night at CAA Arena, with puck drop set for 7:-00 p.m.
Fast Facts:
- #4 Jacob Larsson had a goal and extended his point streak to three games
- #9 Angus Crookshank registered his 12th assist of the season
- #10 Zack Ostapchuk had an assist and now points in back-to-back games
- #13 Egor Sokolov and #15 Matthew Highmore each had four shots on goal
- #23 Cole Reinhardt had an assist
- #25 Tyler Kleven extended his point streak to three games, by scoring his second goal of the season. He also had three shots on goal and a +3 rating
- #35 Leevi Merilainen stopped 30/34 shots
- The Senators and Rocket combined for 85 minutes in penalties
- Belleville was 1/5 on the power play and 4/5 on the ViewTech Window and Door Penalty Kill
Highlights:
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