Ottawa Senators Top Farm Club Wins First Battle of Ontario, Advances in AHL Playoffs for the First Time

Maybe the organizational black clouds that have hovered over Ottawa and Belleville for seven years have begun to lift. Until now, neither team had won a single playoff game in seven years. The B-Sens took care of that with a Game 1 victory last week.

And now the Belleville Senators have their first Calder Cup Playoff Series victory after defeating the Toronto Marlies 4-3 in overtime on Sunday afternoon. Belleville's top scorer, Garrett Pilon, scored the winner for the B-Sens, 2:14 into OT, winning the series in three games for the Senators.

On an innocent-looking 2-on-2, Stephen Halliday floated a light wrist shot on goal, as Pilon moved past the defenders and headed to Toronto's net. Pilon was the beneficiary of the juiciest rebound one could imagine and he made no mistake, beating Marlies goalie Dennis Hildeby with a deke to the forehand side.

Pilon is a UFA at season's end and after leading the team in scoring and coming up huge in the first round, he may a player worth re-signing, and taking a longer look at this fall.

It was an emotional ending to the series in more ways than one. As the winning goal was scored, a skirmish broke out involving Belleville all-star Angus Crookshank and Toronto's Zach Solow. And then Boko Imama and Kyle Clifford shared some words. (Video courtesy of AHL TV and the Belleville Senators Entertainment Network.)

The officials were ready in case shenanigans broke out in the handshake line, which almost never happens. But it did in this case. Imama appeared to do or say something Clifford didn't like so Clifford backtracked in the line to try and get at him. 

The Marlies broadcast team claims Imama had said some "horrible" things to Clifford from the bench in Game 2, but left it at that without elaborating, other than wondering if maybe the Marlies should file a "protest."

With the victory, the B-Sens move on to host Cleveland in Games 1 and 2 of the North Semifinal, Wednesday (May 1) and Friday night (May 3) in Belleville. Then the series breaks for five days, presumably because of NBA conflicts, with Games 3-5 to be played in Cleveland.

For several of the B-Sens, Marlies head coach John Gruden might end up being their head coach in Ottawa someday. With his season over, Gruden is expected to get an interview shortly for the Senators' NHL head coaching vacancy.

As for the rest of the Marlies, they enter the off-season much like their parent club probably will – trying to figure out how to beat teams with a B on their jersey.