The view from Belleville: Erik Brannstrom displays both skill and grit while Marcus Hogberg’s roll continues

BELLEVILLE — Not only did Erik Brannstrom show off his skill with the Belleville Senators against the Manitoba Moose on Saturday, he also displayed his feisty side.

It would seem that’s something Ottawa Senators fans can expect in the future from the 19-year-old defenceman, the key piece in the trade of Mark Stone a week ago.

Brannstrom, playing in his second game since the trade from the Golden Knights, was a central figure in Belleville’s 4-0 win against the Moose, extending the Senators streak to 17 games without a regulation loss (12-0-5). They are tied for the fourth and final playoff spot in the AHL’s Northern Division and are two points out of third, though the Utica Comets and the Toronto Marlies, the teams they are battling, have games in hand.

Brannstrom, 5-foot-10 and 173 pounds, is a dynamic skater who is always trying to make something happen with the puck. He also showed a physical side when he slammed (maybe a bit from behind) Moose forward Mason Appleton into the boards. Brannstrom then got jumped by Manitoba forward Jansen Harkins and Appleton joined in after he got up.

Here’s the clip from @SensProspects:

Wild scene – Brannstrom gets jumped by 2 Moose players, Hogberg steps in to help him out, and after 3 minutes of referee discussion, it's 4-on-4 hockey 🤔 pic.twitter.com/WaaAoWXhST

— Sens Prospects (@SensProspects) March 3, 2019

The play had gone up the ice, so the trio had it for a few seconds until Senators goaltender Marcus Hogberg jumped in to help. Near the end of the game, Brannstrom had a good exchange of whacks with Felix Girard on the way to the benches.

Afterward, Brannstrom told The Athletic that he doesn’t mind the physical stuff.

“Of course I want the puck and stay away from that a little bit, but during the games of course when I do that, I can help the team that way, too. I’m not that good, but I’m trying,” he said.

Yes, he does want the puck. Whenever partner Cody Goloubef gained possession, Brannstrom would call out and give him the beaver-tail slap on the ice with this stick to let Goloubef know he could move the puck in his direction.

Brannstrom isn’t afraid to go back into his corner and get the puck himself either and he’s crafty at dodging hits from oncoming forecheckers.

In the first period on Saturday, he got the puck and skated it out of the Belleville zone down the left wing. He softly chipped it by a Moose player at the Manitoba line, won the battle for the puck and skated it out of the corner and had a scoring chance. Even on something like a routine faceoff win in the offensive zone, Brannstrom conjured up something out of nothing. He faked left, causing the Manitoba player to lose his stick, jumped right and went down the slot for another chance.

From @SensProspects again:

Near the end of the game, with Belleville on the power play, he had his pass from the right point deflect off a stick and head towards the blueline. Brannstrom won the race for it, twisted back away from the defender and got the puck to forward Nick Paul who fed a pass across the ice to Drake Batherson for a goal.

“I try to have the puck as much as possible and give the puck to my forwards and make plays. That’s what I’m trying to do. I’m trying to work on everything every day, but that’s my kind of game,” he said.

“Maybe I was a little more confident with the puck tonight. (Friday) I was maybe a little nervous. Maybe there was a little bit of pressure and everything. I was more comfortable today out there. It’s starting to get better and better.”

It’s been a big adjustment for Brannstrom, who was the Knights’ third pick (No. 15 overall) in the 2017 Draft. Shocked at first, he’s started to get his head around the opportunity that life with a rebuilding franchise presents.

The path to the NHL is a lot shorter in Ottawa than it might have been on a more veteran, contending team like the Knights (I am now shaking my head after writing that sentence. A second-year expansion team is more veteran and is contending while the Senators are, well, what they are).

“That’s what I was thinking, too,” Brannstrom said. “Vegas has a really good team and there are more veterans there. Of course you want to play in the NHL. Everyone wants that in here (with Belleville) and that’s my main goal.”

In the meantime, he’s looking forward to helping Belleville on their current run.

“It was a long couple of days with the trade. I was a little bit shocked, but I’m really happy to be here, really excited. It might take a few games coming in, but it’s going better and better, I think. Today’s game was a step in the right way and just keep building on that,” he said.

“We’ve got some really good prospects here and a really good team. I think it’s really good. If we play this way the rest of the games it’s going to be a fun year.

The other prospect closest to being an NHL-ready that the Senators received in their recent deals (Matt Duchene to Columbus) is forward Vitaly Abramov. He’s another player on the smaller side, but showed on Saturday that he’s not afraid to go hard to the net. One mad dash to the blue paint’s outer limits resulted in a tumble into the boards and his first goal with the Senators (13th of the season).

“They’re both fearless,” Senators coach Troy Mann said of Brannstrom and Abramov. “When you’ve got kids that can skate like that and make plays like that and they’re fearless, it’s a pretty good combination to have.”

Abramov is playing with Filip Chlapik and Jack Rodewald. His arrival has given Mann another good offensive line behind the top trio of Logan Brown between Paul and Batherson.

The value of that was evident on Saturday night when Mann got fed up with too much east-west play by the Brown line with six minutes to go in the second period. He nailed them to the bench for the rest of the period. He might not have had that luxury without the second line upgrade to take some of those shifts.

The B-Sens have a nice mix upfront now with the skilled kids on the first two lines and a good mix of veterans and grittier guys in the bottom six.

The lines against Manitoba:

Nick Paul – Logan Brown – Drake Batherson

Vitaly Abramov – Filip Chlapik – Jack Rodewald

Adam Tambellini – Chase Balisy – Darren Archibald

Joseph LaBate – Jean-Christophe Beaudin – Boston Leier

Archibald, for instance, has been really good since he was returned to Belleville on Feb. 22. He scored the winning goal against Manitoba on a short-handed breakaway, giving him four goals in his last three games.

The 29-year-old came over in the trade with the Vancouver Canucks along with goaltender Anders Nilsson for Tom Pyatt, Mike McKenna and a 2019 sixth-round pick. He was one of the guys who picked it up when Mann shortened his bench.

“Brown’s line was a little bit off. It took six-minute benching in the late second to get them to wake up a little bit,” Mann said. “You’ve got guys like Archibald who have been contributing. I can’t say enough about what he’s brought to the table since the trade. Great leadership on the bench and in the locker room. He just does it all. He gives us that intimidation factor, as well, where nobody wants to mess with him. A great addition by the organization.

“Guys like Goloubef and Archibald for me are what I like to call organizational guys. They can go up and give the big club some valuable minutes if there are injuries, but they’re just real good people and good players for your American league club and good for the young guys.”

“We’re trying to treat every game like it’s a playoff game,” Archibald said. “We kind of dug ourselves a hole earlier in the year. It’s a dogfight right now. We’ve been playing some good hockey and we have to keep it going.”

Call it the Hogburglar run.

Hogberg has played 15 of the 17 games in Belleville’s streak, including the past nine in a row. He has a .916 save percentage during that time period.

“Hoggie has been unbelievable. He seems to always be there and make that big-time save when we need it most,” Archibald said. “He’s kind of been the glue back there holding everything together. Top to bottom though everyone’s been playing well.”

Mann said he’s going to ride Hogberg for as long as the schedule allows. The Senators have back-to-back games in Cleveland against the Monsters on Thursday and Friday and a huge game against the Marlies in Toronto next Monday.

“Consistency, right? It wasn’t here last year. I heard that was certainly something he needed to work on going into this season,” Mann said, who’s in his ninth year in the AHL and first in Belleville. “You’re only as good as your goaltending and he’s been unbelievable. This schedule right now is really conducive to him getting a lot of rest. We have to win. We have to win every game. As long as he’s feeling fresh and we’re communicating with him on a day-to-day basis, and if he feels good and says he can play, he’s going to play.

“The bottom line is we want to get this team to the playoffs and right now he gives us the best chance to win.”

(Top photo: Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)