A rematch between the Belleville Senators and Cleveland Monsters ended with a much happier result for the Belleville Senators on Sunday afternoon.

Leevi Merilainen’s 37 saves and a game-winner in overtime from Angus Crookshank gave the Sens a gutsy 2-1 victory at CAA Arena, two days after a 4-2 defeat against the same opponent.

Both teams came out with their legs underneath, but Cleveland put some forechecking pressure on the Sens early and got rewarded for it by getting on the board first.

Jake Christiansen peeled off the left-wing boards and launching a high hard shot over the left shoulder of Merilainen.

Tyler Angle and Nick Blankenburg chipped in the helpers at 5:06.

The BSens put forth a good effort to skate with the Monsters and eventually found the net in the waning seconds of the period on the powerplay.

After just missing on a one-timer off the post moments prior Egor Sokolov took another pass and waited to rip a shot through heavy congestion in front of Cleveland goaltender Pavel Cajan.

Crookshank and Max Guenette helped set up Sokolov's third of the year.

After that, Merilainen and Cajan took over the game with some brilliant stops.

A frantic second period saw both teams get some Grade-A level chances off some scramble plays with Sokolov coming the closest to capitalizing when he waled out front from behind the goal line and flipped a backhand shot off the inside of the left post.

The Senators treaded water through the third keeping the game even.

The team got plenty of chances on a late man advantage but didn’t score and Merilainen had to make a right pad save in the final moments of the third off Eric Robinson to push the game to overtime.

That set up Crookshank’s heroics 1:05 into the OT session as he took a Guenette feed, edged it to his stick and beat Cajan clean on the blocker side to send 2,300 spectators home happy.

Sokolov, who was physically imposing all game, also assisted on the finisher, giving he, Crookshank and Guenette all the points in the game.

Despite not finding the net as much as in the past, the 23-year-old Russian says his early-season persistence may be starting to pay off.

"If you look at my shots on goal (total) every game, I feel like in the last six or seven, I've had four or five shots on net," he stated.

"It's not easily going in, but once you get one, it obviously feels like a monkey off the back. Overall, I was just happy to be able to help the team win today."

Head coach David Bell praised the efforts of his top forwards and his team overall for coming back after a tough loss on Friday with a strong effort.

When asked about Merelainen's performance, he stated he wasn't the least bit surprised at the way the first star of Sunday's game was able to buckle down and keep his team alive after an early goal against.

"(It's) the way he prepares, his mental approach to the game and his mental approach to practice," Bell said when breaking down how his 21-year-old Finnish goalie is able to find success.

"He acts like he's 30-years-old and he's played 500 games. Nothing rattles his cage. Whether it's practice, in the gym or if something goes wrong with travel, he's dialled in."

As part of Sunday Funday, fans and players got a chance to partake in a post-game skate to soak in the victory.

The now 6-4-0-1 B-Sens banked four of six points on their three-game homestand heading into a mid-week matchup with the rival Laval Rocket at 7 p.m. Wednesday on the road.