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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

After entering Christmas on a three-game losing streak, the Birmingham Bulls started making up ground in the SPHL standings with a pair of wins during a busy four-game holiday week.

The Bulls split a doubleheader with the Peoria Rivermen at the Pelham Civic Complex and Ice Arena, earning a 3-2 shootout win on Thursday, Dec. 26 before falling 6-3 on Friday, Dec. 27.

Birmingham closed out the homestand with a 3-2 win over the Macon Mayhem on Saturday, Dec. 28 but dropped a New Year’s Eve clash with the Knoxville Ice Bears by a score of 6-3 at the Knoxville Civic Coliseum.

Those results leave the Bulls in sixth place in the SPHL standings, albeit with games in hand over the top four teams. The team currently has 25 points, which is three above the playoff cutline but five points out from home-ice advantage in the first round.

In the first game after Christmas against Peoria on Boxing Day, Birmingham took the fight to the defending champions early on and came up with the opening goal thanks to Arkhip Ledziankou’s successful shot off Filimon Lediziankou’s assist with 5:54 remaining in the first period.

Each team would then get two power play chances over the course of the first two periods, but the special teams came up with stops during those penalty kills, including a Rivermen save on Filimon Ledziankou’s penalty shot with 8:58 left in the second, to leave the score at 1-0 going into the third period.

That changed after Peoria’s Garrett Devine picked up a minor penalty for an illegal check to the head with 15:56 left in the third. Arkhip Ledziankou capitalized just 10 seconds into the power play off another assist from his brother Filimon as well as Ben Higgins to double the lead.

Ten minutes later, everything changed once Carlos Fornaris put the Rivermen on the board with just 5:13 left in the third. Less than two minutes later, Jordan Gagnon tied up the game off his first goal of the season, and that 2-2 scoreline held through the end of regulation.

Neither team found the back of the net in the extra period despite the Bulls getting a power play chance 3:23 into overtime off a Peoria interference call, meaning a shootout would decide the opening game of the series.

In the end, only Nikita Kozyrev came up with a goal in the penalty shootout, and his second-round goal gave Birmingham the win.

Goaltender Austin Lotz was the first star of the game for earning 32 saves, including stops on all five of the Rivermen’s shootout chances. Arkhip Ledziankou’s two-goal night earned him the second star and Kozyrev’s shootout goal secured him the third star.

The next night, Peoria battled through three penalty kills in the first 10 minutes and got the opening goal 3:26 into the game thanks to Zach Wilkie.

The fourth time proved to be the charm for the Bulls power play thanks to Drake Glover’s strike with 5:18 remaining in the first, leaving the teams tied at 1-1 going into the first intermission.

The Rivermen broke the tie with 13:09 remaining in the second off a goal from Cale List, but Kyler Matthews tied up the game once again with 7:43 left in the period.

Just four seconds later, Birmingham caught another break off a Peoria high-sticking call. MacGregor Sinclair punished the Rivermen with a goal 17 seconds into the power play, turning a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead in the span of 21 seconds.

While the Bulls carried that lead into the second intermission, the Rivermen dominated the third period, scoring three goals in the first 9:25 of the period to take a two-goal lead. That lead became three after an empty net goal with 20 seconds left, capping off a 6-3 Peoria win.

Birmingham then finished off the three-game homestand on Saturday, Dec. 28 as it welcomed the ninth-place Macon Mayhem to town.

The Mayhem got the early jump after Jake Goldowski opened up with scoring with 15:17 left in the first period. However, Glover flipped the script by equalizing just 20 seconds later.

Matthews kept the momentum going after he helped the Bulls take a 2-1 lead with 2:41 remaining in the first, and Ben Higgins capitalized off a Macon penalty for too many men on the ice by taking a 3-1 lead just 1:27 into the second period.

The Mayhem clawed within one goal with 15:50 remaining in the second, but Macon couldn’t get any closer than that even with two power play chances in the third, sealing the 3-2 win for Birmingham.

Glover earned the first star with a goal and an assist, Matthews took the second star for his go-ahead goal and Lotz secured the third star for his 19 saves against two allowed goals.

After a busy stretch of three games in three days, the Bulls had a few days to recover before traveling to Knoxville on Dec. 31.

Birmingham got in an early 2-0 hole thanks to a pair of Ice Bears goals in the first 11 minutes of the game.

While the hosts held that lead going into intermission, the Bulls responded just 26 seconds into the period thanks to Sinclair and tied up the game at 2-2 with a Kozyrev goal with 12:21 remaining in the second.

Knoxville retook the lead for good with 10:46 remaining in the second period and doubled up the advantage just 1:29 into the third. Glover made it a 4-3 game with 13:29 remaining in the game, but Knoxville scored with 11:45 left before an empty net goal with 1:42 remaining finished off the 6-3 win for the hosts.

Notably, Carson Rose has been out of action since a Dec. 20 defeat to the Ice Bears. Rose still holds the SPHL lead in goals with 17 despite his five-game absence.

Rose wasn’t the only member of the team to miss at least part of the holiday break as the Bulls were shorthanded throughout the end of the calendar year.

Jamie Dorsey served a two-game suspension on Dec. 26 and 27 for starting a fight on Dec. 21, Michael Gillespie, Hayden Stewart and Tobia Odjick each served time on the 14-day injured reserve and Arkhip Ledziankou was loaned out to the ECHL’s Kalamazoo Wings on Dec. 31.

Birmingham will be back in action on Friday, Jan. 3 for the first of back-to-back games against the last-place Pensacola Ice Flyers. The Friday tilt will be on the road in Pensacola, but the Bulls will return to the Pelham Civic Complex and Ice Arena for Kids Jersey Night on Saturday, Jan. 4 at 7 p.m.