Stephen Harper rolled into the nation’s capital and gained the upper hand in a battle with a formidable foe named Trudeau.

It’s just that it happened in a hockey arena rather than a political one, and the Harper in question played centre for the Belleville Bulls, with his second goal since being traded from Erie standing up as the difference in a 4-3 win over Philippe Trudeau and the 67’s.

And 67’s fans may soon see the team’s own recent acquisition in goaltender Connor Hughes, with Trudeau perhaps showing some wear in making his 19th straight start in the Ottawa crease.

“We’ll be a little bit patient with getting him in there,” said coach Chris Byrne after the game.

Not that anyone was pinning the loss on the goaltender.

Trudeau was beaten by Jake Marchment just 1:40 into the game after the puck hopped over a 67’s stick deep in the defensive zone, and when Cameron Brace made it 2-0 five minutes later, the 67’s still had only one shot on Bulls’ netminder Charlie Graham.

Even when the last-place Bulls showed their tendency for bad penalties — with an offensive zone crosscheck from Scott Simmonds late in the first — the 67’s didn’t manage a single shot on net.

By the time Jordan Subban’s long-range point shot slipped through Trudeau to make it 3-0 with two minutes left in the opening period, the 67’s just looked disinterested.

“We can’t allow easy goals, leaving guys open, getting behind early,” said Byrne. “I thought we fought back, but getting behind by three and four goals, you can’t have it. We made it close late, but that doesn’t count for much.”

They didn’t get much of a boost from the hometown fans either, with the crowd announced at 3,191, but it appeared fewer than a third of those chose to brave the cold.

The 67’s didn’t go without the scoring chances that were expected in facing a last-place club that had amassed one lone road win in 17 tries coming into the contest.

Jacob Middleton and Sam Studnicka each rang a puck off the post early in the second, and Graham made an outstanding point-blank save on John Urbanic before he was finally beaten on the power play by Brendan Bell.

The 67’s had exactly 26 seconds to bask in the glow of finally lighting the lamp when Harper bulled his way to the net and restored the three-goal cushion.

Dante Salituro got that one back with 1:19 left in the second, converting a cross-ice feed from Bell, and with 1:53 remaining in regulation, Joseph Blandisi finally made one count after hitting Ottawa’s third post of the game earlier in the period.

aedan.helmer@sunmedia.ca

Twitter: @OttSunHelmer