BELLEVILLE, ON - Third periods haven't been a strong point for the Belleville Bulls of late, and Wednesday night at the Yardmen Arena the Oshawa Generals exploited that trend, scoring three times enroute to a 4-1 victory.

Although they came dangerously close to scoring on several occasions in the game, the Bulls were only able to beat Daniel Altshuller once on a goal that wouldn't come until 3:26 into the second period. 

The first frame didn't have the usual physical tone that often reveals itself when the two East Division rivals meet as both squads played rather cautiously through the opening twenty minutes, winding up tied in the shooting department at ten apiece.

Austen Brassard extended his point streak to a Bulls season high of 8 games on the powerplay, getting his stick on a point shot by Adam Payerl to deflect the puck past Altshuller. Brassard's 19th of the year gave the Bulls the opening goal on home ice, a situation they'd gone 10-1-0-0 in when accomplishing to this point in the season. 

The Generals countered just under a minute later on a powerplay of their own as Lucas Lessio scored on a nearly identical play, tipping Kyle Hope's low shot past John Chartrand to tie the score and silence a healthy Wednesday night crowd at the Yardmen of 2,549.

The two teams would swap opportunities for the remainder of the second, as Michael Curtis couldn't hit an open cage with Altshuller down and out on a glorious opportunity. The scoring chances read a very low 7-6 in favour of Belleville after fourty minutes as both the Bulls and Generals had considerable posession in the offensive zone but pucks weren't getting to the net.

The Generals' third period surge began just 1:57 off the opening faceoff as Lessio hit the scoresheet again, the beneficiary of too much time and space in the slot as the Phoenix Coyotes prospect jammed the puck under Chartrand and over the goal line.

Oshawa took a 3-1 lead at 8:20 with some highlight reel material. Lessio earned himself a third point with a nifty give-and-go with German linemate Sebastian Uvira as Uvira blew around the Bulls defence and tucked a low backhander through the legs of Chartrand.

Daniel Maggio sealed the deal with an empty net goal at 18:46 to make the final 4-1 Oshawa, their second win in six tries against Belleville this season.

"We need to match the intensity and urgency we show on the penalty kill with our play in even strength situations," said coach Jake Grimes after the loss. "I have no issues with the tempo and competitiveness we show when we're down a man, that's a large reason why we have such a good kill. That type of urgency needs to translate over to our five-on-five play."

The Bulls went 1 for 6 on the powerplay and saw their stretch of games without allowing a powerplay goal snapped at five.

Belleville heads into Ottawa on Friday night with a 3-6-1-0 clip over their last ten games, without a win in three of those. With a win by Sudbury on Wednesday, the Bulls are now in a tie for 5th in the Eastern Conference headed into the weekend. They'll face an Ottawa team that is currently locked in a tie for 1st place in the Conference with a record of 22-10-4-1.

Game time on Friday is 7:30pm and Jack Miller goes live on AM 800 CJBQ with pre-game coverage at 7:15pm. The Bulls will return home on Saturday night to host the 67's at 7:05pm at Yardmen Arena. For ticket information, contact the Bulls Box Office at 613-966-8338.