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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

The Birmingham Bulls suffered a tough overtime loss to the Knoxville Ice Bears on Friday, Nov. 15, but they bounced back the next night with one of their strongest results of the season.

The Bulls lost 4-3 in overtime in the first game of their two-game set with the Ice Bears but defeated Knoxville 7-4 on Saturday, Nov. 16 at the Pelham Civic Complex and Ice Arena.

Their first meeting on Friday in Knoxville had a bit of a slower start with no goals in the first period despite penalties on both sides.

However, it was a penalty early in the second period that opened up the game for the Ice Bears as a boarding penalty by Birmingham’s Kolten Olynek put the Ice Bears on the power play.

Mitch Atkins then scored the game’s opening goal with the man advantage at the 2:43 mark in the second to put Knoxville up 1-0.

The Bulls would get their own opening through a penalty at the 9:47 mark thanks to an Ice Bears roughing penalty, and Michael Gillespie scored less than a minute into the power play to equalize.

Knoxville responded once again with a goal with just under five minutes remaining to take a 2-1 lead, but to make matters worse, Seth Benson started a fight at the same time that gave him a game misconduct and the Ice Bears a five-minute power play.

Dawson McKinney then capitalized with a goal with 3:15 remaining in the second period to go up 3-1, and that lead held until the second intermission.

Birmingham needed a spark and got one off not one, but two penalties from Knoxville to put the visitors on a 5-on-3 power play just 2:41 into the third period.

Just six seconds into the power play, Nikita Kozyrev scored to cut the deficit to one. That sprung one of the offending Ice Bears from the box but still left the Bulls on a 5-on-4 power play, and Gillespie scored his second goal of the game less than 30 seconds later to tie the game at 3-3.

The teams remained deadlocked until the end of regulation despite Knoxville committing another penalty and Birmingham going on the penalty kill twice in the final 10 minutes of the third.

The Ice Bears broke through with the game-winner two minutes into overtime to secure the 4-3 win.

After needing the special teams to pull through on the road, the Bulls needed little help rolling on offense in front of their home fans on Saturday, Nov. 16.

Birmingham scored just 1:35 into their second meeting as Filimon Ledziankou notched his first goal of the season to give the hosts a 1-0 lead that held through the first intermission.

Benson then redeemed himself from his actions in Knoxville by doubling up the lead just 1:45 into the second period. That advantage soon became 3-0 with Arkhip Ledziankou’s first goal of the season that he scored at the 9:07 mark of the second.

The Ice Bears got on the scoreboard two minutes later to make it a two-goal game, but Arkhip scored once again with 2:04 remaining in the second, and after not having any goals entering the game, he had two on the night and restored a three-goal lead for the Bulls ahead of the break.

Knoxville got another chance to draw closer after a Drake Glover kneeing penalty just 16 seconds into the period. McKinney scored just over 30 seconds into the power play to make the score 4-2.

Glover rebounded from the penalty and scored at the 4:03 mark before Trevor Thurston scored his first of the season, putting Birmingham up 6-2 with 13:26 remaining in the game.

The Bulls got another power play opportunity midway through the third, and with just three seconds remaining in the power play, Kozyrev scored off assists from the Ledziankou’s to make the lead 7-2.

The Ice Bears’ Brayden Stannard scored just 49 seconds later to respond, but Birmingham’s Austin Lotz didn’t allow any other goals and saw out the 7-3 win. He finished the game with 41 saves.

The Ledziankou’s earned the first two stars as Arkhip had two goals and three assists and Filimon scored a goal and earned three assists. The Third Star went to defender Taylor Brierley, who earned a plus-3 rating.

The Bulls now sit in fourth place in the SPHL standings with 12 points, four points off first-place Fayetteville.

Birmingham will return to the Pelham Civic Complex and Ice Arena on Friday, Nov. 22 at 7 p.m. for a game against the Macon Mayhem.