Late penalties did the Sudbury Wolves in and ended an exciting comeback in their final home game of the season.
The Barrie Colts jumped out to a 4-0 lead and looked like they were shooting for a blowout, but the Wolves stormed back with four unanswered goals.
Two penalties allowed the Colts to score back-to-back power play goals in the third period and win the game 6-4.
“We started off really slow, we spotted them a four goal lead and I thought we came back, we started to play hard and obviously special teams make a difference,” said Wolves Head Coach Cory Stillman.
“They have a great power play and we battle back and make it 4-4 and they score on the power play and that’s the difference of the hockey game.”
Not a terrible effort though in front of a very good turnout at the Sudbury Arena.
“You want to win on home ice,” Stillman said. “I want to win every night and especially at home and our home record hasn’t been great, but the guys, to me, came back and they battled and they played. Now we got to carry it on to the road.”
The Wolves honoured overage players Doug Blaisdell and captain Kyle Rhodes before the game and both came to play.
Blaisdell finished with two assists while Rhodes had the game-tying goal.
The Wolves also honoured Dmitry Sokolov with a video tribute as he likely made his final return to Sudbury following a trade deadline deal that sent him to Barrie.
“Yeah it hurt my heart, I was almost crying,” said Sokolov.
So he must have had a hard time getting into the game following that, right?
“No, not really,” said Sokolov.
And he didn’t as he scored his 50th goal of the season in the first period.
“It was amazing, amazing feeling too,” said Sokolov.
Sokolov finished the game with a goal and two assists while his linemates Aaron Luchuk also scored his 50th goal of the season and added two assists to give him 116 points on the season and Andrei Svechnikov scored twice and added an assist.
Wolves Head Coach Cory Stillman called them the best line in the league.
Luchuk scored the winner while Svechnikov added the insurance marker.
Sokolov is gearing up for what he hopes will be a long playoff run with the second seed Colts.
“It’s the last game tomorrow, we’re still waiting to see who we play in the first round, but we don’t care who we play, just going to do our job,” said Sokolov.
Sokolov said it was a tough day when he was traded, but he is happy right now and likes his teammates and his coaches.
For the Wolves, two games remain in the season, Saturday night in Barrie and Sunday in Oshawa.
Stillman still expects his team to put in some effort.
“I want to see who’s going to have a head start next year,” he said.
“There’s some guys leaving, probably some new guys coming in, but you’re getting an opportunity to play on the power play, getting an opportunity to play on the penalty kill.
“When doing that let’s see what you can do and if you’re killing a penalty are you willing to block a shot, are you willing to make a clear, and tonight you see some guys getting some opportunities there and doing a good job at it.”
Goals for the Wolves were scored by Macauley Carson, Darian Pilon, Drake Pilon and Kyle Rhodes.
Blake Murray picked up two assists to add to his team lead in points with 42.
With just two games left on the season and sitting at 43 points, the Wolves' current last place in the league standing is great news if they want the first overall pick.
Flint defeated the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds in overtime in the Soo 4-3, and now moves ahead of Sudbury in points with 45.
Stillman wasn’t enjoying the thought of tanking when he heard about Flint’s win.
“I didn’t know that but it puts us back in last place again, so let’s fight to get out of it,” he said. “They have one game left, we have two, so we can still move up in the standings.”
