The Sudbury Wolves are now facing playoff elimination after falling 6-5 to the North Bay Battalion on April 16, putting them at a 3-0 deficit in the second round OHL playoff series.
Jakub Vondras returned to the net for the Wolves while the Troops went with Mike McIvor once again between the pipes.
An intense first period saw North Bay get on the scoreboard less than two minutes into the game, with Ihnat Pazil’s third goal of the playoffs, to give the Battalion an early 1-0 lead.
Just over two minutes later, at the 4:04 mark of the first period, Dalyn Wakely’s eighth goal of the playoffs gave North Bay a 2-0 lead.
The Pack would make it 2-1 about five minutes later when Sudbury forward Nathan Villeneuve scored his first goal of the playoffs to cut North Bay’s lead.
Some 47 seconds later, the hot hand of Dalibor Dvorsky scored his third goal of the playoffs and suddenly the Wolves had battled back from an early deficit to tie the game 2-2. Sudbury wasn’t done scoring yet though.
With 2:50 remaining in the first, Villeneuve scored his second of the game, and of the playoffs, to give the Wolves a 3-2 lead after an eventful period of hockey.
The Wolves dominated the second period, not allowing the Battalion to register a single shot on goal.
But while Sudbury kept North Bay away from their net, the Battalion did much the same for the Wolves, such that the first goal of the second period didn’t come until 14:43 into the period.
The Wolves took a 4-2 lead thanks to Chase Coughlan scoring his first of the playoffs.
With exactly one minute remaining in the second period, Sudbury native Zacharie Giroux scored on the power play, his first goal of the playoffs for the Wolves, giving Sudbury a 5-2 lead heading into the third period.
That comfortable lead was soon to evaporate though. At the 5:56 mark of the third period, Battalion forward Justin Ertel scored his sixth goal of the playoffs, this one short-handed, to cut the Wolves’ lead to 5-3.
Then, with 3:20 remaining in regulation and with North Bay on the power play, Owen Van Steensel scored his fourth of the playoffs to pull North Bay within a goal, making the score 5-4 for the Wolves.
At the 17:08 mark of the third, Ethan Procyszyn scored his second goal of the playoffs to tie the game 5-5 and send things into overtime.
The overtime period was evenly matched until Dalyn Wakely scored his second goal of the game, and ninth of the playoffs, at the 12:19 mark of the extra frame to give the North Bay Battalion a 6-5 overtime victory and a commanding 3-0 series lead.
The Sudbury Wolves now face a must-win situation in Game 4 if they hope to stave off elimination. That game takes place at the Sudbury Community Arena on Thursday, April 18, with a scheduled start time of 7:05 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].
