It was one of the rare occasions the villain beats out the hero, but Niagara were poison ivy to the Wolves, putting Sudbury on ice 5-4.
The arena was nearly full on Superhero Jersey Game, where the Wolves donned Batman-like jerseys raising money for the NEO Kids Foundation.
But the caped crusaders started the game like Bruce Wayne, not putting on the costume until late in the second period.
“Slow start, fast finish, 60 minutes in hockey and we showed up for half of it,” said Head Coach David Matsos. "The shot count showed it, the Grade A’s against showed it. Tried to get ourselves back in it but it was too far gone.”
“Would have been a great game if it was a 30 minutes game, the second 30,” said Matsos.
The Wolves trailed by two goals at two points in the game, 4-0 early in the second period and 5-1 late in the second before Macauley Carson made it 5-2 heading into the third period.
Sudbury brought it back within one goal with over 10 minutes left in the third, but then a five minute slew-footing penalty to Owen Lalonde for Sudbury put the Wolves down a man.
“We see that effort from the start and I think we hang around for a lot more than what we got tonight," said Matsos. "Unacceptable I mean really, where we are in the standings, the ability to separate yourself from the rest of the group, especially at home these are big games and that was just not good enough.”
Wolves Captain Kyle Capobianco believes it was Niagara’s play that put the Wolves on their heels early.
“I think we just came out slow and they came out hard, they filtered everything to the net," said Capobianco. "They just shot everything and it’s hard when they do that.”
There were only two games on the OHL schedule Sunday but this one was big as the Wolves dropped their third straight game and fourth straight to Central Division teams.
Niagara jumps over both North Bay and Ottawa for seventh in the Eastern Conference and now sit three behind Sudbury for sixth.
“It’s tough when they steal points this late in the season, but we got lots of games still left with them, I think we’ve got a few against North Bay and Niagara, those are big games and we need to win them,” said Capobianco.
Two positives from the game came from Sudbury’s young studs.
Dmitry Sokolov scored the fourth goal of the game which puts him at 40 on the season.
He becomes the first Wolves player to hit 40 since the 2013-14 season when Nicholas Baptiste (45) and Nathan Pancel (42) each topped the mark.
“Time left on the clock too, still got another 13 games left so, it’s hard to score in this league, especially at that number," said Matsos. "30 last year, 40 this year, that’s impressive, that’s what he is.”
“He scores every game it seems like, so he’s a special player he shoots from everywhere and we can all take a little bit from his game,” said Capobianco.
Macauley Carson, who continues to be impressive on the score sheet while playing the physical, penalty killing game, scored twice for Sudbury and put his goal tally up to 21.
The draft eligible forward now has 27 more points than his rookie campaign in six less games.
What’s more impressive is how he gets them, his two goals on Sunday afternoon came off a tip-in and going hard to the net two finish off a three-on-one.
“He’s been playing pretty consistent for us you look at where he’s scoring the goals from in the hard areas and going to the net, you like to see guys get rewarded for playing that style,” said Matsos.
“He’s going to the net hard, I don’t think he’s got any goals outside the hash mark so he’s getting to the dirty areas and I think that’s where you score in the next level so he’s having success,” said Capobianco.
On the flip side David Levin found himself glued to the bench for the majority of the second period and saw just one shift in the third on the power play.
After the game Matsos said he wasn’t injured and when asked why he was benched, Matsos said “because.”
He also told us he hadn’t had a chance to speak with Levin after the game.
The Wolves were led by Carson with two goals, Capobianco with three assists, Michael Pezzetta and Sokolov picked up the other two goals.
Niagara spread the scoring around with seven players getting on the score sheet including rookie Ondrej Machala who scored and added two helpers.
Oliver Castleman for the Ice Dogs was credited with the game winner.
The Wolves were outshot 24-8 in the first period and after the third goal, Jake McGrath was pulled in favour of MacKenzie Savard.
The Wolves don’t get a break as they travel to Peterborough for a game tomorrow afternoon.
Peterborough is one of two teams in the East to clinch a playoff spot, with 71 points they are third in the Conference.
Sudbury hasn’t beat the Petes in three meetings this season and are 1-5 in their last six road games.
After the game the Wolves Superhero jerseys were auctioned off, last year $10,000 was raised for NEO Kids with this year’s total to be released in the coming days.
