A ridiculous goal by Darian Pilon against the Kitchener Rangers helped the Sudbury Wolves snap a four-game losing on Sunday.
The Wolves skated away with a 4-2 victory at home.
In the second period, with the score 1-1 and the Rangers on the power play, Pilon carried the puck down the left side of the ice.
He made the defender miss badly and put the puck between his legs and slid the puck past goalie Luke Richardson.
“I just blocked a shot, so my hand was kind of numb, and when I deked that guy, I kind of panicked. So it was an instant kind of thing,” said Pilon.
It was probably the nicest goal of the season for the Sudbury Wolves, and up there among the best in the league.
Captain Michael Pezzetta had a first-hand look.
“Those guys are awesome; they just bring tons of energy every night, and to see him get a highlight-reel goal like that, I mean he must feel pretty amazing,” Pezzetta said. “All the boys were pretty fired up.”
Head coach Cory Stillman was all smiles when talking about it after the game.
“You know what, you get a breakaway move, use whatever you want to use, as long as it goes in the back of the net,” Stillman said. “It was great, and he beat a player on a one-on-one at the blue-line. Usually when that happens, it’s going in the back of the net.”
The Wolves got two shorthanded goals on the afternoon — the beauty by Pilon and one by his brother, Drake Pilon, which opened up the scoring in the first period.
Pezzetta got in on the scoring action, picking up his 12th on the year, which was the game-winning goal, and Regan O’Grady capped off the scoring with an empty-net goal.
It was a much better effort for the Wolves after being shut out on Friday.
“We had a better effort, right from the start,” said Stillman. “We still gave up a big shot lead, but it wasn’t quite as bad. We played a hard game today.”
Kitchener came into the game second in the Western Conference, but on a two-game losing streak, the Wolves were able to snap their streak despite being outshot again 35-21.
“They’re ranked top 10 in the CHL, so for us to come out today and come away with two points was huge for us,” said Pezzetta. “It got us out of our skid and that was a big two points for everybody.”
Mario Culina, making his second straight start, picked up his first win for the Wolves, and his first in the OHL since March 18, 2017.
“It feels good to get the first win out of the way with the new team,” Culina said. “We had a good practice yesterday, and we cleared up some things in the defensive zone and you saw it in the game today.”
The win moves Sudbury out of the Eastern Conference basement and they sit just three points back of eighth-place Mississauga, a team they will welcome to town on Dec. 1.
