Win or lose, the Sudbury Wolves, who are sixth place in the Eastern Conference, find positives as they reach the end of the regular season.
They found one in the form of Greg Najda’s first Ontario Hockey League goal on Wednesday night against the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.
The Sudbury Wolves now hold a record of 32 wins, 29 regulation losses and five overtime losses heading into the final weekend and the final stretch of the regular season.
Nate Krawchuk was the starting goaltender for the Sudbury Wolves while Nolan Lalonde got the start in goal for the Hounds.
Just under five and a half minutes into the opening period, Chase Coughlan scored his 24th goal of the season when he received a pass from in close from Nathan Villeneuve to give the Sudbury Wolves an early 1-0 lead after the first period of play.
Just over three minutes into the second period, Greyhounds forward Brady Martin fired the puck past Krawchuk from the right faceoff circle for his 31st goal of the season, tying the game 1-1.
With 7:14 remaining in the middle frame, with Alex Pharand serving an Interference penalty for the Wolves, Travis Hayes scored from the slot on the power play for his 20th goal of the season, putting the Soo in front by a score of 2-1 with one period remaining in the hockey game.
Just under two minutes into the third period, Greg Najda picked up a rebound off of a shot from Jack Ziliotto for his first career Ontario Hockey League goal for the Sudbury Wolves, tying the game 2-2.
With 8:29 remaining in the third period, Owen Allard took the puck for the Greyhounds and fired a slapshot past Krawchuk for his 14 th goal of the season to seal a 3-2 win for the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds over the Sudbury Wolves.
The Sudbury Wolves now find themselves in third place in the Central Division and sixth place in the Eastern Conference with two games left before the playoffs.
The Sudbury Wolves head into their final weekend of the regular season, starting on Friday, March 21, with their final home game of the regular season against the Oshawa Generals with puck drop scheduled for 7:05 p.m., followed by their final game of the regular season in North Bay against Northern Ontario rivals, the North Bay Battalion, on Sunday, March 23 with puck drop scheduled for 2 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].