A fast start and a flat finish left the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins chasing all night Friday, and the Belleville Senators made them pay in a 7-3 loss at Mohegan Arena at Casey Plaza.
The Penguins briefly turned the game into a battle in the second period, but Belleville had already built enough cushion to absorb the push. Former Penguin Phil Tomasino was all over the scoresheet for the Senators, finishing with a four-point night with one goal and three assists.
Belleville came out firing and kept pressure on early before finally cashing in on its eighth shot of the game at 3:19. After Oskar Pettersson rang one off the post, Shane Bowers found the loose puck behind Joel Blomqvist and buried it. Less than a minute later, Samuel Blais turned a two-on-one into another goal, pushing the Senators ahead 2-0.
The visitors added a third before the opening period was done. At 13:11, Tyler Boucher cleaned up a rebound to make it 3-0.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, now 3-3-1-0, got life in the second. Tristan Broz cut through a loose puck and slid it across the line at 6:15, and not long after that Daniel Russel scored his first AHL goal to bring the Penguins within one.
Belleville answered again when Xavier Bourgault scored on a breakaway at 12:21 of the period. The Penguins responded right back, though, and their lone power play of the night paid off immediately. Jake Livanavage fired a slap shot into the net nine seconds into the man advantage to trim the deficit to 4-3.
That was as close as Wilkes-Barre/Scranton would get. Tomasino scored 30 seconds into the third period, and Boucher struck again on the power play three minutes later to stretch the Belleville lead back to three.
With the Penguins using an early empty net, Djibril Touré finished off the scoring for Belleville with more than six minutes left.
Blomqvist stopped 21 of 27 shots, while Jackson Parsons picked up his first win of the season with 32 saves for the Senators.
The Penguins will be back on the ice Saturday, Oct. 24, against the Hartford Wolf Pack. It’s also Wrestling Night, with pregame and postgame wrestling matches featuring Slamfest Live outside Mohegan Arena at Casey Plaza. Outdoor activities begin at 3:30 p.m., and puck drop is set for 6:05 p.m.
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The early returns in New Jersey have only sharpened that view. Mantha has been searching for the production that once made him an appealing bet, but his start has been well below the level he showed before, leaving the Devils waiting for more and giving Pittsburgh little reason to second-guess its choice to move on. [Read more 🡒]