OHL Preview: Belleville at Kingston

The Belleville Bulls look to hold on to first place in the OHL Eastern Conference with a win tonight as they visit the Kingston Frontenacs at 7 p.m. Kingston is currently in a playoff spot but has yet to secure the spot yet.

• Belleville: 40-16-5-3, 88 pts — 211 GF, 161 GA, 6-2-2-0 in last ten games
• Kingston: 26-33-2-3, 57 pts — 204 GF, 259 GA, 4-6-0-0 in last ten games

Belleville is coming into tonight’s game off a 3-2 loss to Barrie on Saturday. Prior to that, the Bulls defeated Sudbury 6-2 on Friday and have won two of five games so far this month. After tonight, the Bulls have four games remaining on their regular season schedule. They’ll host Oshawa on Wednesday before visiting Mississauga on Friday, then close the season with a home game against Sudbury on March 16.

The Bulls are an offensive team, having four skaters who have at least 20 goals and four skaters – not all the same – with 30+ assists each on the season. Tyler Graovac (37), Alan Quine (21), Brendan Gaunce (28) and Daniil Zharkov (23) are the top goal scorers on the Bulls squad. Quine leads the team with 41 assists, while Joseph Cramarossa has 41. Jordan Subban has notched 34 helpers, while Graovac has 31. Graovac also leads Belleville in points (68) and power play goals (10).

Belleville netminder Malcolm Subban leads the OHL in GAA (2.20) and is second in the league in save percentage (.932), behind only Barrie’s Mathias Niederberger. Subban is also third in the OHL in shutouts, with four on the season.

While the Bulls look to turn things after the loss to Barrie, the Frontenacs look to build off a 3-1 win over Mississauga on Sunday. Kingston has just three games remaining in the regular season schedule after tonight’s game, which wraps up a three-game homestand for the Frontenacs. They’ll visit Barrie on Thursday before hosting Peterborough and Ottawa to round out the year.

Rookie Spencer Watson leads Kingston with 23 goals on the season, while Henri Ikonen and Darcy Greenaway each have 22 on the year. Center Ryan Kujawinski leads the Frontenacs with 28 assists, while Ikonen leads the team with 49 points in 57 games. Ikonen, Kujawinski and Greenaway each have five power play goals to lead the team in that statistic.

Mike Morrison, who has appeared in net in 52 games for Kingston, has a 3.65 GAA and .896 save percentage.

Tonight’s game is the eighth and final meeting of the season between the two teams, with Belleville having won four of the seven so far.

Alan Quine leads the Bulls with 12 points (3-9) in the season series, including a five-point game and a six-point game. Joseph Cramarossa has 11 points (3-8) and Daniil Zharkov has four goals and four assists against Kingston this season.

Center Sam Bennett has four goals and two assists against Belleville this season for the Frontenacs. Ryan Kujawinski has three points in the season series, while left winger Henri Ikonen has five points (2-3) against the Bulls this year.

Tonight’s meeting between Belleville and Kingston is the lone game on the OHL schedule. Faceoff is set for 7 p.m.