B-Sens coach wants to finish the season strong

B-Sens Coach Kleinendorst speaking with the media after the game against the Devils. Photo by Matthew Morgan, QNet News

By Matthew Morgan

BELLEVILLE – Belleville Senators coach Kurt Kleinendorst says that even though his team is depleted by injuries and call-ups to the Ottawa Senators, that’s not an excuse for their recent play.

On Tuesday night, the Senators lost their fifth game in a row and eighth in the last nine games, 4-1 to the Binghamton Devils in front 2,767 fans at the Yardmen Arena.

“Obviously we’re somewhat depleted but we’ve never used that as an excuse and we wont start using it as an excuse now, ” Kleinendorst said. “My expectations are everyday we show up and we do our very best.”

After the game QNet News asked Kleinendorst about the Sens’ plans down the stretch.

“We want to win hockey games and the one thing this group has done all year is they’ve been competitive, they compete,” he said.

“We come out on the short end a lot of nights, but there’s certain things that I think are getting in the way of winning. But it is what it is.”

Kleinendorst told reporters that he is not disappointed in the effort but that he was disappointed in the outcome.

Binghamton are actually behind the Senators in the standings. But they’ve now won five of their last six games.

As for the game itself, the Devils scored first. Nick Lappin‘s goal at 13:34 of the first period was the only goal scored by either team in the first period.

Sens Filip Chlapik‘s tied the game up at one with his eighth goal of the season at 5:02 of the second period. The Devils took the lead back before the period ended when Christoph Bertschy scored.

In the third period Devils Michael Kapla laced a wrist shot that beat Taylor on the far side at 7:14. Binghamton put the game on ice with an empty net goal by Blake Pietila at 17:59.

The three stars of the game were the Devils Christoph Bertschy who was chosen as the first star with a goal and an assist. Second star was Tim Kennedy who had three assists on the night. B-Sens Filip Chlapik was named the the third star.

NHL veteran goaltender Cory Schneider, who was sent down from the New Jersey Devils on a conditioning stint stopped 19 of 20 shots for the victory.

Nick Moutrey also played his first game with the B-Sens after being traded on Monday by the Columbus Blue Jackets to the Ottawa Senators for defenceman Ian Cole and a third-round draft pick in the 2020 NHL Draft.

“It feels good to be back in Canada,” he said. “Trying to get the feet under me a bit. We had a couple days off in Cleveland and well it was about a seven hour drive, its not easy but no excuses, ” he said.

“I felt pretty good.”

The B-Sens will bet back in action when they visit the Utica Comets on Friday night, before returning home to the Yardmen Arena to face off with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers on Saturday at 7:00 p.m.