The Sudbury Wolves headed east down Highway 17 on Friday, to face off against the North Bay Battalion for the second of nine pairings this season.
The Pack wasted very little time getting their name on the scoreboard, but it was anyone's game until the third period when the Wolves delivered their final blow.
Sudbury capped off a penalty-ridden performance with two goals in the third period, to claim a 3-2 final in their second win out of two games against North Bay.
Seasoned Wolves forward David Levin earned the first star of the game for delivering one goal and two assists in the game, while his teammate and Carolina Hurricanes prospect, Blake Murray, earned third for two assists.
The Wolves were the first to test out the penalty box, earning themselves four minutes in the first period for hooking and slashing. Just as it seemed this would be the only action in the period, Sudbury's Owen Robinson slipped through the chaos to deliver his third goal of the season with three seconds remaining in play.
He was assisted in the movement by Murray and Levin.
North Bay headed into the second period down one, despite outshooting their guests 11-7 in the first 20 minutes.
Sudbury once again found themselves getting cozy in the penalty box in the second period, written up for six minutes compared to the Battalion's two. This worked to North Bay's advantage, who got on the scoreboard at 7:04 during a power play brought on by Wolves' Isaak Phillips.
Battalion's Matthew Struthers was assisted in his ninth goal of the season by teammate Joe Vrbetic.
North Bay pushed ahead of the Pack a little less than 10 minutes later off Luke Mondada's eighth goal of the season, with assistance from Simon Rose.
Sudbury trailed by one heading into the final frame, outshot 15-8 in the second period.
North Bay came back swinging in the third period, earning 11 minutes of penalty time to Sudbury's four. But they weren't the only ones making a comeback.
Levin evened the scoreboard 3:46 into the final frame with his fifth goal of the season, assisted by Shane Bulitka and Quinton Byfield. This prompted up a flurry of shooting from both sides of the ice to nets minded by Sudbury Wolves' Christian Purboo and North Bay Battalion's Joe Vrbetic.
In the end, it was Sudbury's Kalle Loponen who broke the stalemate with assistance from Murray and Levin.
Sudbury's efforts to battle back from their deficit could be seen in shots on goal, which were 13-4 in favour of the Pack in the final frame.
Final shots on goal were 30-28 in favour of the Battalion.
The Sudbury Wolves remain first in the Central Division, second in the Eastern Conference, and third overall, with 10 wins and seven losses.
The Sudbury Wolves return to the Sudbury Arena tonight for a 7:05 p.m. puck drop against the Peterborough Petes.
