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Big Second Period Lifts Bulls to 4-1 Victory over Petes
 Nick Pageau scored twice in the Belleville Bulls 4-1 victory over the Peterborough Petes Saturday night at the Yardmen Arena.
Three unanswered second period goals erased an early deficit, as the Belleville Bulls defeated the Peterborough Petes 4-1 Saturday night at the Yardmen Arena. The win moves the Bulls back into first place in the Eastern Conference and improves their record to 2-0 against Peterborough this season.
It was the Petes who got off to a great start to the game, as they generated the majority of the quality scoring chances during the opening period. Bulls goaltender Mike Murphy was fantastic in the period, making several outstanding saves. The Petes finally did open the scoring with seven and a half minutes remaining in the opening frame when Yves Bastien broke down the wing and fired a bullet shot top corner past Murphy. Peterborough pressed to go ahead even further but could not beat Murphy. The Bulls play seemed to improve as the period went on but they were unable to beat Petes goaltender Trevor Cann. Eric Tangradi had two great chances to even the score during the period but hit the crossbar both times. Shots on goal in the first period were 15-10 Peterborough.
The Bulls quickly tied the score just 53 seconds into the middle frame when Keaton Turkiewicz tipped a P.K. Subban point shot past Cann. Tangradi also assisted on Turkiewicz’s 10th goal of the season. Belleville dominated the second period but Cann was very strong in the Peterborough goal to keep the game tied late into middle stanza. The Bulls finally were able to take the lead with just under four minutes remaining in the period while playing four on four when Shawn Matthias fed a perfect cross-ice pass to Nick Pageau, that the Bulls defenceman was able to one-time past Cann for his first goal of the season. Tangradi also assisted on the goal. Belleville then increased their lead to 3-1 with two minutes remaining in the period on the power play when Andrew Self was left alone at the side of the Peterborough goal to fire a rebound past Cann. Matthias and Subban assisted on Self’s first goal of the season. Shots on goal in the second period favoured the Bulls 20-8.
Belleville continued their strong play in the third period, as they did not allow the Petes to generate much offence during while forcing Cann the make several outstanding saves to keep the score 3-1. Peterborough did press during the final few minutes but Murphy was terrific when called upon to preserve the win. The Bulls then rounded out the scoring with just under one minute remaining while they were down six on three due to penalties and the Petes pulling Cann for an extra attacker. Cory Tanaka won a critical defensive zone faceoff right to Pageau who fired the puck into the empty Petes net from his own zone for his second goal of the game. Belleville then killed off the remainder of the Petes power play to skate away with the 4-1 win. Shots on goal in the third period were 17-12 Belleville and overall favoured the Bulls 47-35.
Murphy enjoyed another excellent game in goal for Belleville, as he made 34 saves to earn his eighth victory of the season. Cann also had a very good game for the Petes, stopping 43 Bulls shots in a losing effort. The Bulls power play scored once in six attempts while Peterborough failed to score in three chances with the man advantage. The three stars of the game were Pageau, Murphy, and Self. With the win, the Bulls improve their record to 10-3-1-1 while the Petes drop to 8-6-0-1 with the loss. Belleville is now off until Wednesday when they begin a stretch of nine games in eighteen days with a home game against the Kingston Frontenacs. Game time is 7:15pm at the Yardmen Arena and tickets are available at the Bulls Box Office. Fans attending Wednesday’s game will also have another opportunity to quality for the Belleville Bulls McDougall Insurance Million Dollar Shootout.
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