The Belleville Senators came roaring out of the gate in their two-game set with the Rochester Americans — looking very much like a team in the Calder Cup hunt.

A night later? Not so much.

After whitewashing the visiting Amerks 5-0 on Friday, the Sens fell to the Buffalo Sabres’ affiliates 4-0, letting some air out of their chances to qualify for the American Hockey League Playoffs.

With a half-dozen games left in the AHL regular season schedule, Belleville’s record stands at 31-26-9. The Senators trail both the Toronto Marlies and Cleveland Monsters by six points in the North Division race.

Bellville does hold a game in hand on Toronto and needs to surpass one of the two aforementioned rivals to qualify for the post season.

The Senators will take their fortunes on the road to run out most of the rest of the regular season.

After visiting Rochester on Wednesday, the Sens are in Springfield, MA and Providence, RI this weekend. The club finishes off the campaign with a three-game set with the Laval Rocket. Belleville is in La Belle Province Wednesday April 16 and 18 to tangle with the Montreal Canadiens affiliates and then finish up the season at CAA Arena with a home contest against the Rocket.

Role Reversal

After enjoying some early success a night prior, the Senators likely knew it wasn’t going to be their night early on in the match up against the Americans on Saturday.

Belleville found itself on the penalty kill just 15 seconds into the game with an early hooking call, and Rochester took only 23 seconds to capitalize when Riley Fiddler-Schultz tipped home a long slapshot from Kale Clague. Belleville responded with two breakaway opportunities, but the first from Jamieson Rees ended with the Senator forward being knocked down on his way to the net front, and the second from Cole Reinhardt led to a desperation toe save from former CJHL star Devon Levi.

Mr. Levi stopped all 27 Senator volleys on Saturday to earn his AHL league leading seventh shutout of the season. The former Carlton Place Canadien puck stopper is one of the league’s best netminders this year. He’s second in wins (25) and sixth in Goals Against Average (.920) in addition to leading the loop in goose eggs.

Getting behind the Amerks early with the Montreal native in net is not a smart way to kick off a contest.

“Obviously when you go down right away in the first minute off of a penalty, it’s a tough spot, but I think our group was still sticking with it,” Sens Captain Garrett Pilon said afterwards. “I think we had tons of chances in the first, but a bit of the difference was special teams, so it’s disappointing that we didn’t get the win, but this time of year we can’t sit on it too long.”

Although the Sens wouldn’t crack Mr. Levi’s armour on this night, they did a decent job of keeping the rest of the Americans off the score sheet-with the exception of one Rochester skater.

Konsta Helenius, Buffalo’s first-round pick from the 2024 NHL Entry draft, had his best night as a professional, firing a hat trick to pace his club to the decisive win. The Ylojarvi, Finland product loves playing against Belleville. In seven games against the Senators this year, Mr. Helenius has five goals and seven helpers for 13 points which is more than a third of the rookie pivot’s 33 points this season.

Mr. Helenius ripped a powerplay blast at 11:25 of the first. The Finn first rounder continued his hot play in the second, taking a nice cross-crease feed from Mr. Fiddler-Schultz and depositing the puck over an outstretched Leevi Merilainen with under two minutes to play in the frame.

Mr. Helenius capped off his outing with an empty netter late in the third.

Coming In Hot

On Friday, the Sens skated to the Rochester goal line early and often and Mr. Merilainen was masterful in the Belleville net, stopping 20 Amerks volleys for his fourth shutout of the season.

The Sens would get all the offence they needed on Friday when Xavier Bourgault slapped a power play tally past Rochster starter Felix Sandstrom at 4:36. The one-timer was set up by Phil Daoust and Mr. Pilon.

Just under six minutes later, Tristen Robins fought his way down the right wing wall, ducked under a check and slid a pass across to the goalmouth where Wyatt Bongiovanni tapped home his first of two on the night to make it a 2-0 Belleville lead.

Belleville continued to dominate late in the frame and Oskar Petterson snapped home his first of two goals on the night from the high slot, making it a 3-0 Belleville lead at the end of 20 minutes. Belleville cruised from there, scoring a handful on 28 shots directed at the Rochester net.

For ticket and broadcast information, visit bellevillesens.com .