Photo: Tim Austen
The Belleville Senators had never won a Calder Cup Playoff series. They had also never won a Calder Cup Playoff overtime game.
Thanks to Garrett Pilon, they have now done both.
Pilon buried a rebound past Dennis Hildeby 2:14 into OT on Sunday afternoon to give the Senators a 4-3 win over the Toronto Marlies in a winner-take-all Game 3 of their North Division first-round series at CAA Arena.
The Sens move on to face the Cleveland Monsters beginning Wednesday night.
Pilon got behind two Toronto defenders to corral a loose puck and scored the winning goal after Hildeby had stopped Stephen Halliday’s wrister from between the circles. It was Pilon’s third goal of the series and his second career postseason OT winner.
Boko Imama recorded a goal and an assist for Belleville, and Josh Currie and Rourke Chartier scored 60 seconds apart to give the Senators a 3-1 lead at the midway point of the game.
But Toronto came back and tied things up with former Belleville captain Logan Shaw scoring late in the second period and then setting up Matteo Pietroniro’s equalizer with 6:41 left in regulation.
Marshall Rifai also scored for the Marlies, his third goal of the series after scoring twice in 57 regular-season games.
(Belleville wins series, 2-1)
Game 1 – Wed., Apr. 24 – BELLEVILLE 3, Toronto 1
Game 2 – Fri., Apr. 26 – TORONTO 4, Belleville 3 (OT)
Game 3 – Sun., Apr. 28 – BELLEVILLE 4, Toronto 3 (OT)
