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Third Period Offensive Outburst Leads Bulls to 5-1 Victory over Kingston
 Keaton Turkiewicz scored twice in the Belleville Bulls 5-1 victory over the Kingston Frontenacs Monday afternoon at the Yardmen Arena.
The Belleville Bulls scored four third period goals to break open a close game, as they skated to a 5-1 victory over the Kingston Frontenacs Monday afternoon at the Yardmen Arena. The Bulls are now 3-0 against Kingston this season, out-scoring them 24-4 in the process. The win moves the Bulls to within two points of the Ottawa 67’s for first place in the East Division while still holding two games in hand.
The Bulls came out extremely fast to begin the game and forced Kingston goaltender Jason Guy to make several great saves to keep the game scoreless. Belleville did breakthrough to open the scoring midway through the period just as a power play had expired when Shawn Matthias was able to fire a rebound from a Cory Tanaka shot past Guy. Shawn Lalonde also assisted on Matthias’ fifth goal of the season. The Frontenacs seemed to find their legs late in the period and were able to tie the score on the power play with four minutes remaining in the opening frame when Cory Emmerton took a cross-ice pass from Matthew Kang and lifted the puck over top of Bulls goaltender Mike Murphy to even the score. Both sides pressed for the go ahead goal late in the first period but were turned aside by Murphy and Guy, as the score remained 1-1 after twenty minutes of play. Shots on goal in the first period favoured the Bulls 17-7.
The two sides played a scoreless second period in which both Guy and Murphy played extremely well. Kingston had the best chance to break the deadlock in the second period when they enjoyed a lengthy two man advantage. However, the Bulls penalty killing was strong and the game remained tied 1-1 heading into the final period. Shots on goal in the second period were 13-12 Kingston.
The first half of the third period was extremely tight and it appeared as if the game would go down to the wire. That was until Belleville struck for three goals in just over two minutes to go ahead 4-1. Eric Tangradi gave the Bulls the lead nine minutes into the period when he fired a rebound from a Bryan Cameron shot into the empty goal after Guy had made the original save. Cameron made several great moves to start the play and get the puck into a scoring position. Matthias also assisted on Tangradi’s fifth goal of the season. Matthias extended the Bulls lead to 3-1 on the power play just a minute and a half later when he took a pass from Cameron and roofed a shot over Guy’s shoulder from in tight. Tangradi also assisted on Matthias’ second goal of the game and sixth of the season. The Bulls made it 4-1 just 26 seconds later when Keaton Turkiewicz one-timed a Stephen Johnston pass from behind the net between the pads of Guy for his fifth goal of the season. Turkiewicz then rounded out the scoring with a minute and a half remaining in the game on the power play when he picked up a loose puck and made a quick move before firing the puck from the slot past Guy for his second goal of the period. Chris Mifflen and Marc Cantin earned assists on Turkiewicz’s sixth goal of the season. Shots on goal in the third period were 20-12 Belleville and overall favoured the Bulls 49-32, as they skated away with their third consecutive victory.
Murphy played another terrific game in goal for the Bulls making 31 saves to earn his fourth victory over the season while Guy was also very strong for Kingston, stopping 44 Belleville shots in the loss. The Bulls power play remained red hot scoring twice in six chances while Kingston scored once in seven opportunities with the man advantage. The Bulls have recorded at least two power play goals in every game this season and own the OHL’s top power play unit. The three stars of the game were Matthias, Turkiewicz, and Murphy. With the win, the Bulls improve their record to 4-1-0-0 while Kingston drops to 2-5-0-1with the loss. Belleville is now off until Friday when they travel to Kingston to face the Frontenacs for the fourth time this season. The following night, the Bulls will play host to the Peterborough Petes before wrapping the weekend with a Sunday afternoon game in Brampton. Game time on Saturday night is 7:15pm at the Yardmen Arena and tickets for the game are available at the Bulls Box Office.
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