The Sudbury Wolves' hot start to the 2016-17 OHL season continued on Wednesday evening as the Wolves went into hostile territory and put a beating on their Northern Ontario rivals.
The Wolves broke out for six goals in the first 40 minutes of play, taking a 6-1 lead into the third period thanks to a Dmitry Sokolov first period hat trick. The second year forward got the Wolves off to a quick start, tallying his first of three on the period 5:24 into the first frame.
The Greyhounds would reply at around the 12-minute mark of the first on a goal from Alex Gritz, but Sokolov wasn't even close to being done as he potted two more in the first to complete the natural hat trick.
Sudbury kept the foot on the gas pedal in the second, as Michael Pezzetta, Ryan Valentini and Drake Pilon all found the back of the net to pad the Wolves' lead to a comfortable 6-1 margin after two periods of play.
Despite the scoreline, the Wolves were out-shot 33-21 through two periods of play, with Jake McGrath standing tall between the pipes and turning aside all but one of the 33 shots he was faced with.
The Greyhounds opened the third period with some purpose and managed to get a powerplay marker three minutes in, off the stick of Connor Timmins, but the damage was done and the deep hole the Hounds had put themselves in proved to be too much to overcome as they fell to the Wolves by a final score of 6-2.
When all was said and done, the Wolves were out-shot by a wide margin, but their early offensive onslaught and solid play from McGrath got the Wolves their seventh win in 11 games to remain atop the Central Division.
The Wolves now sit with 15 points and will head back home for weekend games against the Peterborough Petes and Ottawa 67's.
