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Late Goals Cost Bulls in 4-2 Loss to Kitchener
 Cory Tanaka scored his second goal of the season in a 4-2 loss to the Kitchener Rangers Saturday night at the Yardmen Arena.
The Kitchener Rangers scored twice in the final five minutes of the third period to break a 2-2 tie, as they defeated the Belleville Bulls 4-2 in an extremely entertaining game Saturday night at the Yardmen Arena. After a slow start, the Bulls battled the top ranked Rangers hard but could not manage to take the lead, as they dropped their second straight contest on home ice.
Kitchener came out fast to begin the game and pressured in the Bulls zone throughout the opening stages of the first period. The Rangers pressure was rewarded just four minutes into the period after the Bulls were unable to clear the zone and Mike Duco’s attempted pass hit Chris Mifflen and deflected overtop of goaltender Mike Murphy. The Bulls were able to respond just over one minute later when Matt Beleskey broke down the wing and fired a perfect pass to Eric Tangradi in front of the Rangers goal. The Bulls forward was left with an empty net to slide the puck past Kitchener goaltender Josh Unice to tie the score. Shawn Matthias also assisted on Tangradi’s 11th goal of the season. Unfortunately for the Bulls, that was about all the offence they were able to generate in the period, as despite three straight power plays, they were unable to penetrate the Rangers defence. Kitchener pressed throughout the period for the go ahead goal but were turned aside by some excellent goaltending from Murphy, as the game remained tied 1-1 after twenty minutes of play. Shots on goal in the first period were 14-2 Kitchener.
The Bulls had more offensive jump during the second period and forced Unice to make some quality saves early in the middle frame. It was the Rangers who eventually were able to retake the lead with nine minutes remaining in the period when the Bulls were again unable to clear the defensive zone. Defenceman Dan Kelly found Matt Timmins alone in the slot with a pass that he was able to one-time past Murphy to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead. Once again, the Bulls were able to respond quickly and tie the score when Cory Tanaka tipped a Bryan Cameron pass between the pads of Unice with four and a half minutes remaining in the period. Both sides had other chances to take the lead during a very even, end-to-end period but both Murphy and Unice were solid to keep the score tied heading into the final frame. Shots on goal in the second period favoured the Bulls 13-11.
Belleville came out hard to begin the third period but could not beat Unice on some great early scoring chances. Murphy also thwarted any Kitchener chances to take the lead in the early stages of the period. The Rangers finally went ahead for good with four and a half minutes remaining in the third period when Matt Pepe’s shot hit a body in front and just trickled over the goal line past Murphy. Kitchener then put the game away three minutes later when Duco beat Murphy on a breakaway after another Bulls turnover just inside the blueline. Shots on goal in the third period were 15-10 Belleville but overall favoured the Rangers 35-30.
Murphy played a strong game in goal for the Bulls, stopping 31 shots in a losing effort while Unice was also excellent, making 28 saves to earn his 10th victory of the season. Each team went scoreless on five power play opportunities, as the penalty killing units for each side were outstanding. The three stars of the game were Unice, Matthew Tipoff, and Kelly. Tipoff was tenacious all night long on the forecheck and was a key penalty killer for Belleville. With the loss, the Bulls record drops to 11-5-1-1, as they remain in second place in the East Division. Kitchener improves to a league best 16-2-0-0 and have now won ten straight games. The Bulls are now off until Wednesday when they play host to the Ottawa 67’s in a key divisional battle. Game time on Wednesday is 7:15pm at the Yardmen Arena and tickets are available at the Bulls Box Office.
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