BELLEVILLE, ON - It was a good old fashioned East Division bout between two teams that have historically grown to have quite the disliking for one another. The Belleville Bulls squared off with the Kingston Frontenacs in the second of eight meetings this season, and fans at the Yardmen Arena on Wednesday night weren't disappointed as their Bulls took an eventual 4-2 win behind the great goaltending of Malcolm Subban. 

Puckdrop followed an excellent pre-game ceremony honouring former Belleville Bulls defenceman and current Hall of Fame forward Doug Gilmour. Gilmour had great things to say about his time in Belleville, crediting the big ice surface for helping his development as a young player.

Up against the Eastern Conference's lowest seeded team, the Bulls were overmatched by a determined Kingston Frontenacs squad for much of the first period. Behind the offensive wizardry of Boston Bruins prospect Ryan Spooner, the Fronts controlled much of the offensive pressure as Subban was at his finest through the first twenty minutes. "We had to get past some less than spectacular play early on," said Bulls Head Coach George Burnett following the game. "We've been better at controlling pucks and avoiding turnovers lately, but credit Kingston for coming out and playing a strong first period."

Despite a tough first period as far as fundamentals were concerned, the Bulls did manage to get on the board immediately as a great chip by Austen Brassard from just beyond the Kingston blueline created an odd-man opportunity for the Bulls as Daniil Zharkov was the eventual beneficiary of a great cross-crease feed from Adam Payerl. Zharkov's goal at 1:58 extended a four game point streak for the Russian rookie as Belleville led 1-0 early.

Kingston drew even just beyond the midway point of the first as Spooner notched his tweltfth goal of the season. The recent Canadian World Junior Selection Camp invitee had help from Warren Steele and Petr Beranek as he finished off a chaotic flurry with a deflection over Subban's shoulder through traffic.

Rough n' tumble Bulls forward Dylan Corson looked to spark the bench at 13:36 when he got involved with Kingston defenceman Alex Gudbranson deep in Frontenacs territory. The two 17 year-olds swapped some big punches as Corson tried to swing the momentum back into Belleville's favour.

Thirteen seconds later, two of the OHL's toughest customers squared off as Brady Austin took exception to the aggressive play of Kingston's Conor Stokes. Austin had the size advantage in the tilt but Stokes, and experienced fighter, was able to hang in there. 

The Bulls were outchanced 11-4 in the first period but managed to escape the opening twenty tied at one.

The Frontenacs began the second period on a powerplay as Subban quickly came up with another game-changing save when he turned aside Beranek in the slot from point blank range. Moments later, Subban allowed a questionable rebound but made up for it by kicking out his right pad to take a goal away from Spooner on the doorstep.

Strong goaltending soon translated into a better effort by the rest of the team as the Bulls' third unit of Scott Simmonds, Dylan Corson and Garrett Hooey played a role in Belleville's solid showing in the second half of the game. The stellar play of Belleville's depth forwards made way for Zharkov to score his second of the night.

The offensively gifted Zharkov had the puck on a string as he cut through the neutral zone, stepped into the middle around Fronts defender Jeff Braithwaite and snapped a quick shot over the shoulder of Igor Bobkov on an awesome solo effort.

The Bulls carried a 2-1 lead into the second intermission after a period of high physical stakes. Both teams were finishing all of their checks as the intensity would eventually spill over into the third period.

The Simmonds, Corson and Hooey trio saw their efficient play pay off a quarter of the way through the third period as Simmonds made a heads up pass to Brady Austin who was trailing in off the rush. Austin snapped a shot right along the ice that the 6 foot 6 Bobkov couldn't reach as the former Erie Otter picked up his first goal of the season and first as a Belleville Bull.

The Bulls held their two goal lead through the following ten minutes of the third but Kingston began pouring on the pressure, particularly on a four-on-four opportunity as Malcolm Subban provided timely saves off Spooner and Tyler Brown in a quick flurry.

The Frontenacs' determination soon led to another goal though, as Spencer Green's fourth of the season on the backhand deflected past Subban off the back of defenceman Jason Shaw at 15:55.

After a scary few moments, the Bulls composed themselves and added an empty net goal by Michael Curtis before all was said and done as they skated to the 4-2 win.

Late game physicality featured Ryan Hutchinson and Dylan Corson engaging in a dust up with just over thirty seconds remaining as Hutchinson received an extra two for instigating in Corson's second bout of the night.

Following the game, Burnett gave full credit to the Frontenacs on putting forth a strong effort. "We don't for one minute think that the Kingston Frontenacs are going to give us easy points this season. They battled hard tonight and outworked us at times. We were fortunate that our goaltending was as good as it was." 

In an unfortunate incident, the Bulls lost power forward Carter Sandlak in the second period as he didn't return to the game. After an accidental collision with Conor Stokes, it was discovered that Sandlak suffered a broken ankle and will miss approximately twelve weeks recovering from the injury. "Carter will be having surgery tomorrow and we don't expect to see him for another three months," said Burnett. "We're going to have to find a way to replace that size and physical style. We're looking."

Malcolm Subban was named the game's first star as he came up with 36 saves, many of them off of high quality shots. Subban continues his strong play this season as he now boasts a 10-3-0-0 record in goal.

The Bulls' seventeenth win of the season signified several milestones for the team. Perhaps most importantly, the Bulls climbed into first place in the Eastern Conference with a record of 17-9-0-0 and wrapped up November with a record of 10-2-0-0. Secondly, the Bulls collected their 999th franchise victory while Head Coach and General Manager George Burnett won his 499th career contest. The Bulls will look for the big 1000 while Burnett looks to clinch 500 on Friday night at the K-Rock Centre against the very same Frontenacs.

Game time on Friday night is 7:30pm at the K-Rock Centre. Jack Miller goes live on AM800 CJBQ at 7:15pm with pre-game coverage.

(Photo Credit: Aaron Bell/OHL Images)