The Sudbury Wolves welcomed the Oshawa Generals to the Sudbury Community Arena Friday night, for what would turn out to be a penalty-heavy matchup for these two division-leading teams.
Despite having established an early-game lead, the Wolves could not withstand the flurry of goals by Oshawa in the third period, which brought the match to a 5-4 final for the visiting team.
Sudbury's Kalle Loponen was named first star of the game for his first and second goal of the 2019-20 season. He was followed by third star Quinton Byfield, who contributed two assists Friday and is currently leading the league with 18 points.
The first period got off to a slow start thanks to impressive work between the posts by Wolves' Christian Purboo and Generals' Andrew MacLean, but that stalemate wouldn't last forever. Sudbury's Shane Bulitka broke open the scoreboard at 11:13 off an assist by Blake Murray and Liam Ross, and that's when things got heated.
Bulitka committed the first penalty of the night shortly thereafter, which inspired a number of shots by both high-energy teams. With less than three minutes remaining in the period, Wolves' newcome Loponen broke through the crowd to score his first goal of the season off of an assist by Byfield.
The Wolves held a 2-0 lead heading into the second period, with shots on goal 10-11 in favour of Sudbury.
Both teams got familiar with the penalty box in the second period, which gave Loponen plenty of time to plan out his follow-up attack. The Finnish prodigy scored his second goal of the night during a power play at 14:40, thanks to an assist by Owen Gilhula and Byfield.
With no response by Oshawa, the Wolves carried a 3-0 lead into the third period with shots on goal 6-13 in favour of Sudbury.
The Generals broke onto the ice in the third period with a vengeance, but it would take several penalties before they focused their attention back on the net. The team took their place on the scoreboard halfway through the period off a goal by Oshawa's Allan McShane.
Hot on his tail was teammate Nico Gross, who caught this momentum and off an assist by Oliver Suni and Kyle MacLean, scored his fifth goal of the season on a powerplay at 10:30. He was followed less than a minute later by Generals' Brett Neumann, who scored his fifth goal of the season with assistance by McShane and Ty Tullio on a powerplay.
The Wolves responded with a goal of their own at 14:45 by Jack Thompson, but Oshawa was not finished yet. Generals' Neumann returned to the net a minute later to tie the game off an assist by teammate MacLean.
Oshawa's Tullio delivered the game-winning goal at 18:49 with assistance by Giovanni Vallati and Neumann, to claim a 5-4 final in their favour.
The Oshawa Generals currently lead the Eastern Conference with a total of nine wins and zero losses. Sitting second is the Sudbury Wolves, with a total of five wins and three losses.
The Sudbury Wolves are back on the road to take on the Mississauga Steelheads at the Paramount Fine Foods Centre Sunday at 2 p.m.
