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Belleville's Playoff Push

March 5, 2019, 1:43 AM ET [15 Comments]
Trevor Shackles
Ottawa Senators Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
You can follow me on Twitter @ShackTS

There isn’t much to follow for the Senators in the last month of the season, but there sure is a lot of intrigue surrounding the AHL Senators---the Belleville version. Coming into the season, I was optimistic that they would be better than in years past, even if that didn’t necessarily mean a playoff berth. For most of the season, they were exactly that, with improvements across the board, but still far out of the playoff picture. As recently as January, making the playoffs seemed like a pipe dream.

Fast forward to today, and Belleville is right in the thick of things with 16 games to play:



It looks like two of Toronto, Utica, and Belleville will make it in, and all it takes is one Comets loss for the B-Sens to be tied in both points and games played. There’s no guarantee that they will make it in, but they have been unstoppable of late, as they have gone 12-0-1-4 in their last 17 games, and will look to continue that amazing point streak on Thursday.

In their final 16 games, 9 of them are at home, and 10 of them are against current playoff teams, which actually isn’t too bad. They also have a home game vs. Utica, two away games vs. Toronto, plus another home game vs. Toronto (with a home-and-home series coming in the second and third final games of the season), so those matchups are crucial if Belleville wants to get in. If they win three of those, there’s a decent chance that they make it, so long as they don’t completely collapse in the other 12 games.

At the moment, they are still slight underdogs to get that #4 seed just because of the Comets extra game in hand, but that could change in an instant if they lose their next game. With how well the B-Sens have been playing thanks mainly to Batherson, Brannstrom, Brown, Paul, Chlapik, and Hogberg, my gut feeling is that they will make the playoffs, although it will most likely come down to the wire. Even with this massive point streak, they are still just tied for the final playoff spot.

When this point streak was around eight or nine, I was skeptical that Belleville would actually be able to make a push for the final playoff spot, but they have literally doubled the streak, so now it looks incredibly doable. Also, it would be extremely disappointing if they don’t make it in at this point. It looks like Pierre Dorion won’t be calling any of their best players up to the NHL so that this group can be at full strength, and I’m fine with that because it’s important to create a winning atmosphere. I was initially against keeping some players down there just because the playoffs seemed unlikely, but the situation has changed quickly.

The lineup that they put out on Saturday looks so much deeper than it has in years past, with three solid lines that have high upside, some great defensemen, and a goalie who is becoming more and more comfortable each game:




It’s fantastic to see head coach Troy Mann give the most ice time to those who actually deserve it, regardless of their age, and that’s why players such as Drake Batherson, Filip Chlapik, Logan Brown, and Nick Paul have been able to flourish. Newly acquired Erik Brannstrom seems to have fit in right away as well, and Vitaly Abramov has shown flashes of brilliance:




This is the best B-Sens team since at least 2013-14 (the last time they made the playoffs), and even the 2010-11 Calder Cup Champions team didn’t have nearly as many high-ceiling prospects as this team does, so that is very exciting. If you are able to watch some Belleville games online, I would recommend you tune in because there are plenty of future Ottawa Senators playing and they are playing out of their minds right now in order to get into the playoffs.

At least there is one competitive team to follow, and hopefully this group can learn to win together as they progress forward in their NHL careers.
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