Not bad for starters for Carter Yakemchuk and the Ottawa Senators.

Yakemchuk, the club’s top prospect, led the way with two goals and a three-point effort as the Senators opened the Prospects Showdown with a 4-3 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday afternoon at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

Forwards Tyler Boucher and Stephen Halliday also chipped in with goals for Ottawa, while rookie goaltender Jackson Parsons came up big with a 27-save effort.

The No. 7 overall selection in the 2024 National Hockey League draft, Yakemchuk should be one of the best players this weekend, and he had a solid start. He wore an alternate captain’s ‘A’ and opened the scoring three minutes into the first period of Saturday’s contest by firing a blast by Toronto goalie Artur Akhtyamov.

Yakemchuk also gave the Senators a 4-2 lead in the third period by showing great poise and firing home a backhand shot from the slot.

Nobody has ever quibbled about his abilities offensively, but he has to be able to play at both ends of the ice.

“That second goal you don’t see too often with that composure and patience,” Belleville Senators coach David Bell told reporters in Montreal.

There will be a lot of eyes on Yakemchuk when the Senators open their main training camp on Thursday at the Canadian Tire Centre. He made a push for a roster spot last season and has that opportunity again, especially with veteran Nick Jensen still recovering from hip surgery.

It was interesting to see Yakemchuk paired with Tomas Hamara on Saturday. A third-round pick in 2022, Hamara finished his Ontario Hockey League career with the Brantford Bulldogs last season, and there is a good chance he could be Yakemchuk’s partner with Belleville of the American Hockey League.

These rookie tournaments are designed to help young players get a taste of what it’s like to perform on the big stage before the real battle for jobs begins.

Since they’ll both play in the NHL pre-season with Ottawa, it would be no surprise if the organization decided to sit Yakemchuk and Halliday for their second game of the Prospects Showdown against the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday night.

SOLID EFFORT IN NET

Give Parsons credit because he gave his club a chance to win Saturday.

Signed as a free agent by the Senators, Parsons was the Canadian Hockey League’s goaltender of the year with the Kitchener Rangers last season. He finished with a 37-12-3 record, a 2.48 goals-against average and a .920 save percentage.

He made some huge stops, especially midway through the second period with the Leafs on a power play, and was helped by the fact that one of his defenders swept a puck off the goal line with Ottawa leading 2-0.

Parsons, 20, who grew up in Embrun, just east of Ottawa, opted to pass up on a scholarship offer from Clarkson University to sign with the Senators. He looked confident Saturday and didn’t give up much in the way of rebounds.

Toronto’s Luke Haymes broke the bid for a shutout late in the second period. Parsons had no chance as Haymes spun and fired a shot through the five-hole, cutting Ottawa’s lead to 3-1.

Parsons didn’t get a lot of help in the third, when the Leafs pulled within a goal on a score by Jacob Quillan. After Yakemchuk restored the two-goal lead, Ryan Kirwin cut the gap to 4-3.

“I loved him,” Bell said of Parsons. “He looked confident, he looked tall in the net. I loved how active his stick is in those tight plays. He made some huge, 10-bell saves. He was the difference in the game.”

THE LAST WORDS

It didn’t take long for combatants to drop the gloves. Senators winger Matthew Andonovski, who had 132 penalty minutes last season in 65 games with Kitchener last season, took on Toronto’s Landon Sim early in the first period. That set the tone for some pushing and shoving through the course of the afternoon. Andovoski, 20, a fifth-round pick in 2023, is turning pro this season and is expected to play in Belleville … It was good to see Boucher score in the second period to give Ottawa a 3-0 lead. He was taken No. 10 overall in 2021, but has had a hard time staying healthy. Boucher fired it home with a wrister on the glove side with Jamieson Rees providing a good screen in front of the net … The Senators killed off five Toronto power plays.

bgarrioch@postmedia.com