Skip to content

Pilon twins’ grit helps lead Wolves to victory

Pack grinds it’s way to a tough victory over Owen Sound
200917_Pilon_twins-thumb
The Pilon twins, Drake (left) and Darian, stepped up to help give the Wolves the win over Owen Sound on Sunday. (File)

Darian and Drake Pilon were two of the veteran players left on the Wolves after the trade deadline, players who would be counted on to lead after the team traded away some of its top talent.

They did that and more on Sunday in a 2-1 Sudbury win over Owen Sound.

“It really shows us that we can win without all the key guys that we traded away and we picked up a lot of good players like (Alexey) Lipanov and Strat (Peter Stratis),” Darian said. “We’ve still got a winning hockey team here it’s just about us putting it together.”

Darian scored the first goal, a buzzer-beater to end the second period. It was his effort on a play that created a turnover, as well, that his brother Drake turned into the second and game-winning goal.

The two have now combined for six points over the last two games. Head Coach Cory Stillman said it’s a very rare occasion when they don’t show up to play.

“I can count on one hand or probably even less than one hand … when they’re not working hard,” said Stillman.

The win snapped a five-game losing streak for the Wolves and was just their second win in nine games since coming back from the Christmas break.

“I think this is going to help us out, getting our confidence up. I think that we understand now what type of team we are, we’re a gritty team and we work hard and we’re definitely conditioned so,” defenceman Cole Candella said.

Candella was one of the better players on the ice for the Wolves, stopping countless rushes from the Attack with hustle plays.

“Whenever you have a guy like (Nick) Suzuki on the ice, you got to be smart in what you’re doing, so I think just the d-men, we realized whose on the ice at times,” Candella said. “You got to be smarter with the puck, you have to be smarter where you go.”

In net, Jake McGrath was calm, cool and collected making 33 of 34 saves on the afternoon.

Sudbury started out pretty hot with a strong forecheck and two great chances in the first period. But as the period went on, the play shifted in the Attack.

Maksim Sushko and former North Bay Battalion Brett McKenzie had some great chances, but Jake McGrath stayed solid, capping off the period with a glove save as time was winding down.

The Wolves managed just four shots on net in the first, but still found themselves in a scoreless hockey game. The first penalty of the game didn’t come until halfway through the second period and the first goal didn’t go in until less than five minutes remained to play in the frame.

The Wolves had some brilliant chances down the stretch.

Kirill Nizhnikov was robbed by a diving Mack Guzda; Macauley Carson was stopped by the pad of Guzda; and the Wolves hit the post on multiple occasions.

With the time ticking down, Darian Pilon rang a shot off the crossbar and out of play, and it seemed liked the Wolves were going to head into the third period with great chances but no finish.

With 9.9 seconds to go, the Wolves won the face-off in the Attack zone and a scramble in front ensued after the Wolves hit the post again. Darian Pilon whacked the puck into the net as the buzzer went off.

The refs took a look at it and called it a goal with 0.2 seconds left on the clock.

“Hit the crossbar and post a couple times in the period, so we knew we were bound to get one,” Pilon said of his goal. “We were just banging at it trying to put it in and finally just got a stick on it and it went in.”

The Wolves tied the game up 1-1 with 20 minutes to play.

Less then five minutes into the third period, the Pilon’s were at it again.

The Attack went back into their zone to begin what they thought would be an easy rush, but Darian was chasing the player behind the net and managed to steal the puck.

He passed it out front to Drake who went high and right on Guzda for the goal.

The Wolves felt some pressure down the stretch as they were outshot 13-7 in the third period and 34-25 overall. And it got scary, with over two minutes to play the Wolves took a penalty, giving the fifth best power play in the league a chance at six-on-four because of the empty net.

“You don’t want to kill a penalty late, especially against a team that can score goals and they move the puck around well,” said Stillman.

But the Wolves killed it off and pulled out the victory.

Sudbury will head to North Bay for a mid-week game before returning home for games against Saginaw and North Bay this weekend.


Nick Liard covers the Sudbury Wolves for Sudbury.com, provides game commentary for the Wolves on Eastlink, and serves as news director at 92.7 Rock and Kiss 105.3.


Comments

Verified reader

If you would like to apply to become a verified commenter, please fill out this form.