The American Hockey League’s version of the Battle of Ontario is going the distance.
Led by a standout effort from goaltender Dennis Hildeby, the Toronto Marlies refused to go quietly into the night by scoring a dramatic 4-3 overtime victory over the Belleville Senators on Friday night at the Coca-Cola Coliseum.
Dylan Gambrell, a former Senators’ forward, scored the game-winner 50 seconds into OT on a fluke goal.
That tied this best-of-three series 1-1 and set up a deciding Game 3 on Sunday at 3 p.m. at the CAA Arena in Belleville.
Garrett Pilon’s second of the game, on the power play, tied it up 3-3 with 19 seconds left to send it to OT. Donovan Sebrango also scored for the Senators.
The Senators opened the series with a 3-1 victory over the Marlies on Wednesday in Belleville. Coach David Bell and his staff expected a push back and goaltender Mads Sogaard also had to be strong for the Senators.
The Senators started the second with just over three minutes of power play time after Kyle Clifford was given a five-minute major and thrown out for a dirty hit on defenceman Tyler Kleven.
Through 40 minutes, the Senators down 3-2 to the Marlies and Sogaard had to be sharp. Pilon pulled the Senators to within a goal on the power play with 47 seconds left in the second.
Marshall Rifai scored his second of the series to give the Marlies a 3-1 lead late in the second on a shot from the point. The Senators thought there was going to be a stoppage in play.
Rourke Chartier appeared to have tied it 2-2 with six minutes left in the second, but the official took a look at several angles and the result was the club’s fourth crossbar of the game.
There was a lengthy delay before it was ruled a no-goal. The red light went on and the referee in the corner ruled it it was in, but both officials had to take a look at an iPad to make sure it didn’t actually cross the line.
Down 2-0 in the second, Sebrango, an Ottawa native who didn’t score a goal all season, picked a great time for his first of the year. He went top shelf on Hildeby on a shot the goalie had no chance of stopping at 9:50.
A bad bounce off the boards allowed the Marlies to pull out to a 2-0 lead at 3:07 of the second. Caught behind the net, Sogaard watched helplessly as the puck bounced by him and all Clifford had to do was chip it home. There is nothing Sogaard can do on that, but just the same he’d want it back because it didn’t look pretty. Mistakes like those get magnified in the playoffs when every goal means so much.
Trailing 1-0 after the first, the Senators relied heavily on Sogaard to keep them in the game. Virtually untested in Game 1, he had to play a big role in or it could have been a lot worse.
The Senators were outshot 12-7 by the Marlies and Sogaard had to halt some high-danger chances. Like Wednesday, the Marlies opened the scoring early when Joseph Blandisi scored 59 seconds into the game. Left alone in front, Sogaard had no chance as Blandisi, 29, who spent part of his junior career with the 67’s, was able to bang it home.
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