|
Bulls Defeat Oshawa 5-4 in Overtime to Tie Club Record with Twelfth Straight Win
 Geoff Killing scored his first goal of the season in overtime to give the Belleville Bulls a 5-4 victory over the Oshawa Generals Wednesday night at the Yardmen Arena.
The Belleville Bulls defeated the Oshawa Generals 5-4 in overtime on Wednesday night at the Yardmen Arena to tie a club record with their twelfth consecutive victory. It was the second consecutive home game in which the Bulls had won in overtime. Defenceman Geoff Killing was the unlikely hero, scoring his first goal of the season with just 15 seconds remaining in overtime to give Belleville the win. Killing’s goal came in the same game that he set the Bulls all-time record for career regular season games played by a defenceman with 264.
It was the Generals who got off to a quick start, capitalizing on an early power play and opening the scoring before the game was three minutes old when Oshawa Captain Eric Regan finished a pretty end to end rush with a nice deke before sliding the puck past Bulls goaltender Mike Murphy. Despite allowing the early goal, it was the Bulls who were able to take control and dominate most of the opening frame. Andrew Self tied the score on a power play seven minutes into the first period when he deflected a P.K. Subban point shot past Generals goaltender Daryl Borden. Keaton Turkiewicz also assisted on Self’s 11th goal of the season. The Bulls then took the lead less than two minutes later when Matt Beleskey beat Borden on a penalty shot after the Bulls Captain had been pulled down on a breakaway. Belleville pressed throughout the remainder of the opening period but could not beat Borden, as the Generals goaltender was stellar to keep the Bulls lead at just 2-1. Shots on goal in the first period were 19-7 Belleville.
Both teams continued to skate hard to begin the second period, forcing both Borden and Murphy to make several good saves each in the early moments to keep the score 2-1. The Bulls increased their lead to 3-1 five and half minutes into the second period when Adam Perry tipped a Subban point shot past Borden to score in his fourth consecutive game. Cory Tanaka also assisted on Perry’s 21st goal of the season. Oshawa responded just over four minutes later when Brett MacLean was left alone at the side of the Bulls net to one-time a perfect cross-ice pass from Ryan McGinnis for his league leading 47th goal of the season. Both teams pressed during the second half of the middle frame but could not score, as the Bulls led 3-2 heading into the second intermission. Shots on goal in the second period favoured the Bulls 15-11.
The Generals were able to level the score five minutes into the third period on a two man power play advantage when Patrick Asselin tipped a nice pass from Regan overtop of Murphy. Belleville appeared to go ahead once again midway through the third period but had a goal disallowed after it was ruled that the puck had been gloved into the net. The Bulls were able to take the lead with five minutes left in the third period when Nigel Williams beat Borden with a hard slapshot from the high slot just as he was taking a hit from Generals forward Dale Mitchell. Self and Perry assisted on Williams’ ninth goal of the season. Oshawa put forth furious pressure in the final few minutes in an attempt to tie the game and despite some great goaltending from Murphy, the Generals pulled even with just ten seconds remaining. Tavares tied the score after winning an offensive zone face-off and then deflecting a pass from the point past Murphy to send the game into overtime. Shots on goal in the third period were 16-9 Oshawa.
The two sides began overtime playing three on three due to off setting penalties and it created an excited end to end pace in which both Murphy and Borden were great to extend the game further. Killing ended the game when he took a pass on the side boards and drove to the net before firing a high, hard shot that just got by Borden for his first goal this season. Beleskey and Perry earned assists on the winning goal. Shots on goal in overtime were 6-3 Belleville and overall favoured the Bulls 49-37.
Murphy played well, stopping 33 shots to run his personal win streak to nine games and pick up his 25th victory of the season. Borden made 44 saves in a losing effort for Oshawa. The Bulls finished the game one for seven on the power play while the Generals converted twice in four opportunities with the man advantage. The three stars of the game were Killing, Regan, and Perry. With the win, the Bulls improve their record to 32-9-3-2 and move four points ahead of the Generals for first place in the Eastern Conference. Oshawa moves to 30-11-2-3 with the overtime defeat. The Bulls will now attempt to win a club record thirteenth straight game on Friday night when they will travel to Kitchener to face the Rangers. Kitchener is currently the number one ranked team in Canada and Friday’s game will be shown live on Rogers Sportsnet beginning at 7:00pm. On Saturday night, Belleville will play host to the high flying Windsor Spitfires in what should be a highly entertaining game. Game time on Saturday is 7:15pm at the Yardmen Arena and tickets are available at the Bulls Box Office.
| 
