The Sudbury Wolves came out looking fresh in their brand new jerseys, but that mattered little to the Oshawa Generals who scored 45 seconds into the first period and didn’t look back from there, winning by a final score of 8-2.
“We weren’t ready at the start of the game,” said Sudbury Wolves Head Coach Cory Stillman. “We had two turnovers and they put it in the back of our net. It’s a 2-0 lead, and we’re coming from behind against a good hockey team, an experienced hockey team. Every mistake we made, they put it in the back of our net.”
The Wolves outshot their opponent 38-32 and put some pretty good stretches together, but goalie Kyle Keyser was good and the Generals pounced at every turnover the Wolves made.
Stillman had a quick answer on how to correct the mistakes.
“Just handle the puck, make plays, do what you’re supposed to do. Obviously, we’re going to make mistakes, but we kept making them. You know what, to play from behind in this league, you learn to play with the lead is a lot easier than chasing,” said Stillman.
Wolves starting goalie Jake McGrath gave up five goals on 16 shots before giving way to Marshall Frappier.
Stillman said they would go back and look at the game before making a decision on the starting goalie for Sunday’s game, but said McGrath has to be the team's starting goalie.
“I’m hoping he’s No. 1 one goalie,” said Stillman. “You need him to be good and sometimes win hockey games. I’d imagine he’d like to have this one back.”
Kyle Rhodes, who finished exhibition play with three goals and six points in three games continued his hot play into the season.
He picked up two goals including a stroke-of-luck short-handed marker.
Rhodes took the puck off a faceoff and fired it from inside his own blue-line.
The puck bounced a few times, taking one final weird hop into the back of the Generals' net, past Keyser.
It wasn’t Vesa Toskala bad, but it was a long shot from the Wolves defenceman.
Rhodes had four goals in 163 games with Guelph and finds himself with two in one game with the new squad.
“New team, new coaching staff, new systems — I think everything is going to turn out well here and we’re going to keep plugging along,” said Rhodes.
Blake Murray, the Wolves' first round pick, picked up the assist on the play for his first OHL point.
A bad break for the Sudbury Wolves happened early into the first period when 30-goal scorer, Macauley Carson, went hard into the board and came up in visible pain and frustration, holding his left shoulder.
As mentioned, the Oshawa Generals scored first after a two-on-one was saved by McGrath, Renars Krastenbergs passed the puck in front and it went off Zack Malik’s skate and in.
Jack Studnicka scored No. 2 for the Gens, and then it was a Nick Wong show.
Wong buried the next two goals, one off a breakaway and then next a quick wrist shot off a faceoff.
Those were the first two goals of the 2017 second-round pick’s OHL career.
Studnicka, Kenny Huether and Allen McShane scored for Oshawa, before Wong potted the hat-trick on a two-man advantage.
The Wolves have a quick turnaround as they play North Bay Sunday.
North Bay beat Barrie on Friday, but have today off.
Puck drop is 2 p.m. on Sunday.
