Sudbury Wolves’ netminder Nate Krawchuk was on fire on Sunday afternoon, but even the 50 saves he made weren’t enough to get the Pack in the win column against the Oshawa Generals.
A strong two-goal performance from Keiron Walton kept the Wolves in the game, but the team struggled thanks to injuries that kept Quentin Musty and other key players off the ice.
Jacob Oster was the starting goaltender for Oshawa.
Sudbury finished one for two on the power play while they shut down the Gens’ power play, killing off all six penalties in the game.
The Generals struck first with 4:53 remaining in the first period when Brooks Rogowski picked up his own rebound to score his 11th goal of the season, giving Oshawa a 1-0 lead.
Just under one minute later, with a scramble in front of the Sudbury net, Luca Marrelli picked up the puck and scored his 18th goal of the season, increasing the Generals’ lead to 2-0, which is where the teams stood after the first period of play.
At the 4:59 mark of the second period, Luke Torrance fired a hard slap shot past Krawchuk for his 23rd goal of the season, giving Oshawa a comfortable 3-0 lead.
With 2:10 left to play in the middle frame and with Generals’ player Ben Danford in the penalty box for holding, Winnipeg Jets prospect Kieron Walton sniped a shot from the high slot area past Jacob Oster for the power play goal, his 37th goal of the season, cutting Oshawa’s lead to 3-1 heading into the second intermission.
With 49 seconds left in the game, Walton scored his second of the game when he shot the puck past Oster for his second goal of the game, and team leading 38th goal of the season, making the score 3-2 for the Oshawa Generals.
That is as close as Sudbury would get, falling 3-2 on the road in Oshawa.
With the loss, the Wolves remain in sixth place in the Eastern Conference, third in the Central Division and 11th overall with a record of 32 wins, 28 regulation losses, and five overtime losses with three games left to play in the regular season.
Three games remain in the regular season, with the Pack already having secured a playoff spot. The team next prepares to take on Northern Ontario rivals the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds at Sudbury Arena on Wednesday, March 19 at 7:05 p.m.
Super fan Robert McCarthy covers Sudbury Wolves and Sudbury Five games for Sudbury.com. Got a question for Robert? Email it to [email protected].