Friday’s match between the Sudbury Wolves and the Flint Firebirds looked like a losing affair for the first two periods, but a late-game surge by the Pack secured a 6-4 at Sudbury Arena.
Flint scored two goals in both the first and second periods to Sudbury’s single marker, meaning the Pack went into the third down 4-1, but managed to not only blank the Firebirds in the final frame but also score five times to seal the win.
Sudbury netminder Kevyn Brassard started the game, but was pulled less than nine minutes in with Wolves already down by two goals on two shots faced. Nate Krawchuk took over duties from there for Sudbury. Meanwhile, the Wolves peppered Flint goalie Nathan Day with 39 shots.
Flint opened the scoring just past the three-minute mark of the first on a goal by Gavin Hayes (23). Five minutes later, Coulson Petrie would score his 14th of the season to make it a 2-0 Firebirds game. It was at this point Sudbury would swap goaltenders.
Krawchuk and the Pack would keep the puck out of the net for the rest of the first, but Flint's Pitre would score again (his 15th) five minutes into the second and Flint was up 3-0.
Assisted by Nolan Collins and Landon McCallum, Nick DeGrazia would score his 15th of the year at 9:58 of the second to put Sudbury on the board.
Three minutes later though, Flint would score again when Zacharie Giroux notched his 14th to make it 4-1 for the Firebirds.
Down by three goals going into the third, Sudbury suddenly turned on the jets for the final frame, and they would get started early.
At 1:43, DeGrazia (16) would score his second of the game, assisted by Alex Pharand and Dylan Robinson, to cut Flint’s lead in half.
Then at 9:11, Kocha Delic (13) would score with help from Robinson and McCallum to pull Sudbury to within one goal of Flint.
Less than a minute later, the Pack would tie it up after Evan Konyen fed Matthew Mania who beat Flint netminder Nathan Day to score his seventh of the season.
At 19:17, the Wolves would take the lead when André Anania and Pharand teamed up to feed David Goyette who scored his 26th of the season to make it 5-4 for Sudbury.
Forty seconds later, Sudbury would add an empty-net insurance goal thanks to Marc Boudreau (assisted by DeGrazia) for a final score of 6-4.
The win improves the Pack’s record to 15-18-3-1, good enough for eighth in the OHL’s Eastern Conference and 16th overall. The loss drops Flint’s record to 19-17-2-1, which sits them sixth in the Western Conference and 10th overall.
The Pack is back in action Jan. 15 at home against the Soo Greyhounds. Puck drops at 2 p.m.
