The Belleville Bulls snapped their four game losing streak with a 4-3 overtime victory over the Kitchener Rangers Saturday night at the Yardmen Arena.  Matt Tipoff scored his second overtime winning goal of the season just eight seconds into the extra period. 

It was the Rangers that were able to open the scoring less than seven minutes into the first period while shorthanded when Shane Prince jammed a rebound past Bulls goaltender Philipp Grubauer.  It was the fourth shorthanded goal surrendered by the Bulls in the past five games.  Belleville was able to tie the score with nine and half minutes remaining in the opening frame when Cody Alcock fired a rebound from a Scott Howe shot past Kitchener goaltender Mavric Parks.  Brett Mackie also assisted on Alcock’s first goal of the season.  The two sides traded scoring chances during the remainder of the period but both Grubauer and Parks were strong to keep the score 1-1 after twenty minutes of play.  The Bulls penalty kill was also excellent during the first period, killing off four Rangers power play opportunities.  Shots on goal in the first period were 16-14 Kitchener.

The two sides played an end to end second period that featured a number of quality scoring chances and great goaltending by both Grubauer and Parks.  The Bulls were able to take a 2-1 lead on the power play with just over six minutes remaining in the middle frame when Luke Judson tipped a Tipoff point shot past Parks.  Stephen Silas also assisted on Judson’s fourth goal of the season and third in as many games.  The assist extended Tipoff’s point streak to ten games.  The Rangers were able to tie the score with a power play goal of their own just over two minutes later when Ryan Murphy snapped a hard shot between the pads of Grubauer from the slot for his first career OHL goal.  Shots on goal in the second period were 11-11.

Tipoff gave the Bulls a 3-2 lead just over one minute into the third period when he skated out of the corner before making a nice move and snapping a shot past Parks.  Bjorn Krupp and Marc Cantin assisted on Tipoff’s team leading seventh goal of the season.  Kitchener was quick to respond, tying the score less than five minutes into the third period when Michael Catenacci deflected a pass from Ben Fanelli past Grubauer from the front of the net.  Both sides pressed for the go ahead goal but were unable to beat Grubauer and Parks.  Belleville did enjoy two late third period power plays but were unable to capitalize, as the game headed to overtime.  Shots on goal in the third period were 14-10 in favour of the Rangers.

The Bulls won the game when Tipoff’s shot deflected past Parks just eight seconds into overtime.  Judson earned the lone assist on Tipoff’s second goal of the game and eighth of the season.  Tipoff is now third in OHL scoring with 21 points in 12 games.  Shots on goal in overtime were 1-0 Belleville but overall favoured the Rangers 41-36.

Grubauer enjoyed an excellent game in net for the Bulls, stopping 38 shots to earn his fourth victory of the season while Parks was also strong, making 32 saves in a losing effort for Kitchener.  Both teams finished the game one for six on the power play.  The three stars of the game were Tipoff, Silas, and Prince.  With the victory, Belleville’s record improves to 4-7-1-0 while the CHL’s seventh ranked Rangers move to 7-0-1-2 with the overtime defeat.  The Bulls will now hit the road next weekend for games in London, Plymouth, and Windsor beginning next Friday.  Belleville’s next home game is Saturday, October 31^st when they will host the Sarnia Sting.  Game time is 7:05pm at the Yardmen Arena and tickets for the game are available online and at the Bulls Box Office.

Photo: Aaron Bell

Belleville Bulls - Kitchener Rangers Oct. 17/09 Highlights

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 17th, 2009 at 11:56 pm and is filed under Game Reports, Video. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.