Belleville Sens Now: Responding to adversity
Coming off a victory over the defending Calder Cup champion Toronto Marlies, the Belleville Senators had several days to practice and rest before playing two games as part of Hockey Fights Cancer weekend.
The team was not facing an easy task. They took on a Lehigh Valley Phantoms team that had shut them out the last time the two teams faced off, as well as a Providence Bruins team that came into the weekend riding a four-game winning streak, having scored a total of 25 goals over that stretch.
In this week's edition of Belleville Sens Now, we'll take a look at how the team responded to adversity by playing a complete, consistent game, Lucas Ellinas scoring his first career AHL goal, and the season debut of Landen Hookey.
Quick results
Friday, November 6, 2026: Lehigh Valley Phantoms - 1 vs. Belleville Senators - 3
Xavier Bourgault had a goal and an assist in the victory.
Lucas Ellinas scored his first career AHL goal.
Jackson Parsons made 34 saves on 35 shots.
Saturday, November 7, 2026: Providence Bruins - 2 vs. Belleville Senators - 5
Blake Montgomery scored two goals for Belleville.
Ryan Suzuki had two assists.
Jackson Parsons stopped 31 of 33 shots for his third straight win.
How do you respond?
The Belleville Senators came into the weekend feeling good following a decisive victory over the Toronto Marlies, the defending Calder Cup champions, at CIBC Place on Sunday.
Belleville played arguably its best game of hockey up to that point, holding the Marlies to just 15 shots on net, including only two in the first period.
"Our first period on Sunday was fantastic. Probably the best period we've played as a team over the course of the season," Head Coach Andrew Campbell said to media before Friday's game against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
"It was tight checking. Guys were over top everything. Managed the puck properly, created some good offense. Didn't love the second period, I think we took our foot off the pedal a bit, and then we were good again in the third. But we just we managed it well with the lead, played the right way, and obviously a big two points for us."
Coming into Friday's game, the Belleville Sens had faced the Lehigh Valley Phantoms before, having played them in the final game of a three-in-three during the team's road trip through Pennsylvania.
Belleville had been shut out by the Phantoms in that game, losing 2-0.
"That was one of those games that we just kind of threw away, but when saying that, we got to respond tonight," Campbell said.
"They beat us there 10 days ago or so, so we look to put our best foot forward and have a good one tonight."
One of the storylines surrounding the team at the start of the season was its ability to play a full 60 minutes of hockey.
This weekend, the team showed its most consistent brand of hockey yet.
On Friday against Lehigh Valley, the team was able to avenge its previous shutout defeat with a 3-1 victory over the Phantoms on home ice.
Most of the scoring came in the third period, with Xavier Bourgault and Lucas Ellinas finding the back of the net.
"It was a really competitive game. I mean, both teams played hard," Campbell said following Friday's game.
"It was tight checking. There wasn't much room either way. Yeah, it's tight out there. I mean, they got two power plays, we got none, which is a little unheard of. But yeah, the guys competed hard. It was a gritty game, and we came out on top."
Belleville followed that up with one of its best performances of the season so far.
The B-Sens defeated the Providence Bruins by a score of 5-2, with Blake Montgomery scoring twice and Ryan Suzuki picking up two assists.
Head Coach Andrew Campbell also spoke highly of the team's performance.
"That's probably the most complete game that we played to date," Campbell said.
"Special teams came up on top of that, power play scoring one, PK giving up nothing. Goaltending was great. All four lines, all 6 (defencemen). It was just a solid effort from start to finish."
Campbell also heaped praise on how the team responded to adversity.
"You know, (Providence) score a goal. Arguably, it's a high stick, but you know, guys got right back after it," Campbell said.
"Luke Ellinas scores a huge goal after the ensuing faceoff. Like, yeah, the buy-in tonight was was great, just from start to finish. The way we checked was awesome. Our stick detail, our puck management. You can go down the list, and we did a lot of good things tonight."
Following Belleville's performance, the team now turns its attention to Wednesday's game against the Utica Comets. Utica has started the season with an 8-2-0-0 record and is riding a three-game winning streak, arguably playing some of its best hockey of the season.
Lucas Ellinas gets on the scoresheet
Lucas Ellinas had himself a productive weekend for Belleville.
It began on Friday night, when Ellinas scored his first career AHL goal.
Ellinas had space as he skated into the offensive zone and got his shot to squeak through five-hole for the goal.
"Yeah, it feels pretty good. It was nice to nice to score on (that), especially the first pro goal," Ellinas told media after Friday's game.
"Kind of was a battle at the blue line, got the puck, and the (defence) kind of gave me some space and just kind of had a shot on that, saw it went in. So it was a pretty, pretty good feeling."
Head Coach Andrew Campbell said he was happy to see Ellinas get on the scoresheet.
"Luke's a guy who since day one he's been here just continually gotten better and better every single day. The goal is fantastic. Really happy for him," Campbell told media on Friday.
Campbell noted that he was even more impressed with how Ellinas had been handling his responsibilities on Belleville's third line.
"The responsibility that we're giving him right now as a staff playing on a line with (Eskiild Bakke Olsen) and (Oskar Pettersson), and really matching them against the other team's top lines. They get the shot line last game against Toronto. They get the bump line today against Lehigh... that line did a great job checking. So, yeah, like I said, he just continually gotten better and better every day," Campbell said, describing the line's play.
While seemingly innocuous at the time, Ellinas' comments after Friday's game essentially foreshadowed how the following night would go for him against Providence.
"Play our game. Get back to playing hard, playing smart, and playing fast. I think that's what we've been doing the past couple games. We look to try to just build on it," Ellinas explained.
Playing hard, smart, and fast was exactly what Belleville did against Providence the following night at CIBC Place.
Just six seconds after Dans Locmelis scored his second goal of the game to bring the Bruins within one, Ellinas responded with a goal right up the middle of the ice to restore the B-Sens' two-goal lead at 4-2.
Belleville would go on to win the game 5-2.
Landen Hookey makes his debut in the lineup
It took a little while for him to get back on the ice, but Landen Hookey made his season debut for the Belleville Senators on Saturday.
The big-bodied forward is entering his second season with Belleville after signing a two-year AHL contract with the Senators as an undrafted free agent.
Hookey was injured after being invited to the Senators' rookie camp back in August.
"It's been a while for him, you know, hurting his foot like he did in the in the rookie games in Gatineau. He's been itching to get back in. He's a big body who can skate, who can make plays," Head Coach Andrew Campbell said following Saturday's game.
Campbell also had plenty of praise for Belleville's fourth line.
"I thought our fourth line was really really good tonight with (Shane Bowers), (Hookey), and (Mark Duarte) there. They just do a lot of good things well. They played with a lot of speed during the forecheck, protect pucks, and spend a lot of time in the O-zone. So Hooks was solid for his first game, and I really like the line as a whole."
During the 2025-26 season, Hookey scored five goals and recorded seven assists in 49 games with the B-Sens.
Other news & notes
Jonas Johansson is set to return to the Belleville Senators after his stint with the Ottawa Senators. The B-Sens will likely move forward with a goaltending tandem of Johansson and Parsons.
Speaking of Parsons, he has been turning in some strong performances since Johansson was called up. Parsons posted a 4-2-0 record, a 2.02 GAA, and a .937 save percentage in the six games he took over as Belleville's starting goaltender. Of those six games, five were 30-plus-save performances.
Scott Harrington has been named the seventh captain in Belleville Senators history. The announcement was made official on Friday. Harrington is playing his second season with Belleville.
There was some concern after Blake Montgomery took a hit late in the third period against Providence and was slow to get to the bench. Head Coach Andrew Campbell confirmed that Montgomery was alright and only needed a couple of stitches. He should be good to go for Wednesday.
Belleville wore special warm-up jerseys to honour Hockey Fights Cancer weekend. The jerseys are being auctioned off, with proceeds from the auction, along with Chuck-A-Puck funds, going to the Belleville General Hospital Foundation.
The Belleville Senators hit the road for a Wednesday night matchup against the Utica Comets. Belleville will then return to CIBC Place for back-to-back games against the Cleveland Monsters on Saturday and Sunday. I'll be on the call with David Foot for both weekend games on AHLTV on FloHockey.
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