The Belleville Senators are on the rise as they trek through the state of Pennsylvania. After a 4-1 win over Wilkes-Barre on Tuesday, the Senators made their final stop in Hershey to take on the Bears. In a physical game, the Senators capitalized on their chances and didn’t look back in a 6-2 win at Giant Center. With a fully loaded roster, the Senators muscled their way back into a playoff spot in the North Division.
Senators Stonks
The Senators blew the game open in the second period. Already leading 1-0, Belleville seized the momentum following a pair of fights. Former Bear Garrett Pilon scored on the power play to put the visitors up by two. The goal is Pilon’s first tally on Giant Center ice since a certain iconic goal in 2023. Now the captain of the Senators, Pilon tallied his ninth goal of the season. Belleville built a 3-0 lead midway through the second.
Hershey clawed their way back into the game on a power play goal. Pierrick Dubé stayed in the right spot to bury a strange pass past Malcolm Subban. With assists on the goal, Hendrix Lapierre extended his point streak to seven games while Ivan Miroshnichenko has points in four straight games. The Bears looked to take just a two-goal deficit into the locker room after two periods.
However, the Senators struck before the buzzer. Jorian Donovan struck inside the last minute on a turnover to make it 4-1 in favor of the visitors. The goal crushed Hershey’s hopes of a comeback on the way to a 6-2 final score.
“When they scored the fourth one, it sucked the life out of the bench,” Bears head coach Todd Nelson explained. “We were a bit flat, wasn’t horrible but just a bit flat. It was a game where we didn’t generate a whole lot, give Belleville a lot of credit. It wasn’t a horrible game, but against a team like that with so many players back, we have to be better.”
Old Habits Die Hard
Although the Bears made progress in recent times, they fell into a familiar trend on Wednesday. Hershey allowed six goals on just 23 shots against, with quality chances ending in their net at critical junctures. Hunter Shepard was chased from the net after the second period after allowing four goals. Ultimately, Hershey dug themselves too deep of a hole to climb out of after making some defensive strides.
“We’re giving up too many goals right now,” Nelson said. “We thought we turned the corner down in Charlotte. Obviously, last game against Lehigh Valley (was a shutout win). Once again, just got to keep working at it and getting better every day.”
Hershey tried to change the momentum in the middle stanza courtesy of some fights. Brennan Saulnier and Dalton Smith dropped the mitts within eight seconds of each other. Despite two wins in the fights, Pilon’s goal followed soon after to take the wind out of the crowd. Hershey generated some chances, hitting posts often, and never found a way back into the game.
The loss snaps a three-game winning streak for the Bears and sends them on the road on a loss. Hershey plays the next ten games in a row away from the confines of Giant Center, the longest road trip in team history. They’ll put a strong road record of 16-3-4-0 on the line starting with a pair of games in Cleveland this weekend.
