|
Bulls Finish Regular Season with 8-2 Victory over Generals
 Eric Tangradi scored twice and added an assist to help the Belleville Bulls defeat the Oshawa Generals 8-2 Friday night in Oshawa.
The Belleville Bulls finished their 2007-2008 regular season schedule in style with an 8-2 victory over the Oshawa Generals Friday night in Oshawa. The Bulls power play was sensational in the game, converting a season high five times. Belleville finishes the season series with a 5-3-0-0 record against the Generals including four consecutive victories versus their East Division rival.
The Bulls got off to a terrific start, opening the scoring three and a half minutes into the first period on the power play when Eric Tangradi fired a rebound from a Nigel Williams point shot past Generals goaltender Daryl Borden. Matt Beleskey also earned an assist on Tangradi’s 23rd goal of the season. Both Borden and Bulls goaltender Parker VanBuskirk were tested regularly during the first period with each netminder making several great stops. Belleville was able to extend their lead to 2-0 with five minutes remaining in the opening frame when Bryan Cameron took a cross-ice pass from Adam Perry and snapped a shot past Borden from the slot for his 41st goal of the season. Shots on goal in the first period were 9-8 Oshawa.
Oshawa was able to get themselves back into the game with a pair of quick goals during the first half of the second period. Shea Kewin cut Belleville’s lead to 2-1 eight and a half minutes into the middle frame when he beat VanBuskirk with a low, hard shot from the face-off circle. Ryan Baldwin then tied the score just 48 seconds later when he took a Jeff Hayes pass and slid a quick shot past VanBuskirk from the top of the crease. Despite allowing two quick goals, it was the Bulls who stormed back with three consecutive power play tallies to take back control of the game. Andrew Self put Belleville ahead 3-2 with nine minutes remaining in the period when he took a Perry pass from behind the net and fired a quick shot between the pads of Borden for what turned out to be the eventual game winning goal. Keaton Turkiewicz also assisted on Self’s 17th goal of the season. Beleskey then made it 4-2 less than two minutes later when his low, hard shot from the high slot beat Borden. Tangradi and Shawn Lalonde each assisted on Beleskey’s 41st goal of the season. Tangradi then beat Borden with a quick shot from a tight angle that surprised the Generals goaltender with just 35 seconds remaining in the period to give Belleville a 5-2 advantage heading into the final twenty minutes of play. Beleskey picked up the lone assist on Tangradi’s 24th goal of the season and second of the game. Shots on goal in the second period favoured the Bulls 16-11.
Belleville put the game out of reach with a pretty goal less than five minutes into the third period. Perry finished a pretty tic-tac-toe passing play with Williams and Cory Tanaka on an odd man rush for his 32nd goal of the season to increase the lead to 6-2. Geoff Killing then gave the Bulls a 7-2 lead eight minutes into the third period when he deflected a Cameron cross-ice pass past Borden as he skated towards the Generals net. The goal was Killing’s second of the season. While not as busy as his counterpart, VanBuskirk was excellent in goal for Belleville all game long including a penalty shot save on Brett Parnham midway through the third period. Tyler Randell rounded out the scoring for the Bulls with just over one minute remaining in the game on the power play when he tapped a Matt Tipoff pass past Borden from the front of the Oshawa net. Stephen Blunden also assisted on Randell’s fifth goal of the season. Shots on goal in the third period were 19-7 Belleville and overall favoured the Bulls 43-27.
VanBuskirk was very strong in goal for the Bulls, stopping 25 shots to earn his 13th victory of the season while Borden made 35 saves in a losing effort for Oshawa. The Bulls power play finished the game an impressive five for eleven while the Generals failed to score in two chances with the man advantage. The three stars of the game were Beleskey, Tangradi, and Cameron. With the win, the Bulls finish the regular season with a 48-14-4-2 record and 102 points. Oshawa drops to 37-17-6-7 with the loss. The Bulls will now wait to find out who their will meet in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals. Belleville will either play Peterborough or Ottawa but will not know who their opponent is until Sunday afternoon. Tickets for their first round playoff series are available at the Bulls Box Office.
| 
