The Belleville Senators will take a spin around Lake Ontario this weekend, desperately seeking wins.

Ottawa’s American Hockey League entry has been struggling since the end of November, going seven games without a point. The B-Sens (11-14-3) bucked that streak Sunday when they took the visiting Bridgeport Islanders to overtime but lost in the extra session 4-3.

The recent skid leaves the Sens one point behind the Toronto Marlies for fourth place in the AHL’s North Division. The good news for Belleville is that after stopping off in Rochester, NY to play the Americans Friday, the locals and the Marlies hook up three straight times before the end of next week.

The mini-Battle of Ontario sees a home-and-home set in Toronto on Saturday and back at CAA Arena on Sunday. Afterwards, the Senators are back in The Big Smoke for their annual Boxing Day match up with the Marlies.

Marooned

Riding a seven game slide on Sunday, Belleville was able to dig deep and take a point out of their only home game against the Isles.

Down 2-0 into the second, the Senators finally got on the scoreboard on a penalty kill. Jan Janik broke away with Xavier Bourgault on a 2-on-1. Mr. Janik picked the short side on Isles starter Henrik Tikkanen at 1:46 to carve the visitor’s lead in half.

Bridgeport’s Cole McWard reestablished the margin with his 4th of the season but Belleville sniper Arthur Kaliyev one timed a Jorian Donovan pass past Mr. Tikkanen before the end of the frame to push the locals to within a goal.

The Sens would have the only tally in the third. Working with a power play, Scott Harrington would tee up Lassi Thompson for a one timer that the Tampere, Finland product blew past the glove of his countryman tending the Bridgeport net.

In overtime, Mr. Bourgault had a glorious chance in alone to end the game early in favour of Belleville. At the other end, Jackson Parsons came up with a couple of ridiculous saves to keep the contest going. Finally, it was the Isles putting the game to bed with 31 seconds left in the extra frame. Activated from the blue line, Mr. McWard followed a rush to the Belleville net and tapped home a loose puck for the decisive goal.

After the game, Mr. Harrington said the outcome wasn’t what Belleville wanted but added there were positives with the comeback.

“Coming back from being down, all in all, is a pretty good game for us,” he said. “It’s frustrating when you don’t get the result that you want, but at this time of year, we’re just taking all the positives we can. We got a point and we’ve got some things that we can work on.”