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Bulls Unable to Recover from Slow Start in 4-3 Loss to Owen Sound
 Shawn Matthias had a goal and an assist in the Belleville Bulls 4-3 loss to the Owen Sound Attack Saturday night in Owen Sound.
The Belleville Bulls got off to an awful start, allowing three goals in the first six and a half minutes and could never fully recover, falling 4-3 to the Owen Sound Attack Saturday night in Owen Sound. The Bulls twice cut the Attack lead to a single goal but they could not complete the comeback, as they finish their road trip with a 1-1-1-0 record.
The Attack came out flying and dominated the opening stages of the game. Owen Sound opened the scoring three and a half minutes into the first period when Michael Farrell took a pass from Brennan Wright on an odd man rush and slid the puck just barely between the pads of Bulls goaltender Edward Pasquale. Joshua Domingues extended Owen Sound’s lead to 2-0 just under two minutes later when he took the rebound from a blocked shot and fired it past Pasquale from the slot. The Attack onslaught continued just one minute later when Wayne Simmonds one-timed a bullet slap shot from the face-off circle while Owen Sound was on the power play. The Bulls did seem to settle down midway through the period and were able to generate more offence of their own. Belleville cut the lead to 3-1 with eight minutes remaining in the opening frame after some tremendous offensive zone pressure when Shawn Lalonde one-timed a point shot through a maze of bodies and past Attack goaltender David Davenport. Kyle Tront and Brendan Taylor assisted on Lalonde’s third goal of the season. The Bulls then enjoyed two later power plays but continued to struggle with the man advantage, as Owen Sound led 3-1 after twenty minutes of play. Shots on goal in the first period were 16-9 Owen Sound.
The two sides played a much more defensive second period with fewer scoring chances. Both Pasquale and Davenport were strong during the middle frame when called upon. Stephen Johnston had the best chance to cut into the Attack lead in the dying seconds of the period but could not beat Davenport on a breakaway, as the score remained 3-1 heading into the final period. Shots on goal in the second stanza favoured the Bulls 8-7.
It was the Bulls who got off to a terrific start to the third period, cutting the Attack lead to 3-2 just 38 seconds into the final frame when Shawn Matthias wired a shot from the face-off circle over the glove of Davenport. Eric Tangradi and Bryan Cameron assisted on Matthias’ team leading 15th goal of the season. The Attack were able to restore the two goal advantage six minutes later on a lucky bounce when a clearing pass hit Tangradi’s stick and deflected to David Kolomatis creating an odd man rush. Kolomatis fed a perfect cross-ice pass to Simmonds who deflected the puck past Pasquale for his second goal of the game. The Bulls were able to respond quickly midway through the period while enjoying a two man power play advantage when P.K. Subban blasted a shot past Davenport from the point after the Attack goaltender had made a tremendous save on Matthias seconds earlier. Matthias earned the lone assist on Subban’s sixth goal of the season. The Bulls put forth tremendous pressure during the second half of the period but could not beat Davenport, as the Owen Sound goaltender made several outstanding stops to preserve the victory for his team. Shots on goal in the third period were 13-8 Belleville but overall favoured the Attack 31-30.
Pasquale was solid in goal for the Bulls stopping 27 shots in a losing effort while Davenport also made 27 saves to earn the win for the Attack. The Bulls power play continued to struggle, scoring just once in seven attempts while Owen Sound went one for four with the man advantage. The three stars of the game were Simmonds, Matthias, and Davenport. With the loss, the Bulls record drops to 15-6-2-1 and they remain two points ahead of the Oshawa Generals for first place in the East Division. Owen Sound improves to 9-15-1-0 with the victory. The Bulls are now off until Thursday night when travel to Peterborough to face the Petes. The next home game for the Bulls is next Saturday night when they will play host to the Brampton Battalion. Game time is 7:15pm at the Yardmen Arena and tickets are available at the Bulls Box Office.
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