Sudbury Wolves Head Coach David Matsos was not happy after Friday’s 6-5 loss to North Bay in overtime, despite picking up a point on the evening.
He was hoping his team would bounce back with another division rival, the Barrie Colts coming to town on Saturday.
Bounce back this Pack did, shutting out the Colts 3-0 and now Sudbury has taken seven of a possible eight points in the last four games.
“Unfortunately I didn’t think we played a great game from wire to wire last night, but if you want to talk about rebound games I thought tonight was a lot nicer of a game to manage from the bench,” said Matsos.
Another reason for this team to rebound was something that was in the back of their minds.
This was the fifth matchup between the two squads this season, and while Sudbury moves to 4-1 against Barrie, the last time the two sides hit the ice it was a 8-2 blowout for the Colts.
A bit of revenge was nice for the Wolves.
“I think that was one of our worst defeats of the year, our main focus wasn’t about that, we talked a little bit about that but our main focus was getting seven of eight points, it’s been a good week for these guys. They’ve worked hard and they’ve earned it,” said Matsos.
Dmitry Sokolov believes perhaps that last game was a one-off.
“Last game was just bad luck,” said Sokolov.
Sudbury goalie Jake McGrath got the start in net and was heavily tested but was up to the task, stopping all 44 shots he faced en route to his first career OHL shut-out.
“That was pretty cool, that’s pretty special for any goalie, the team played well and they helped me get it. It was a team win,” said McGrath.
“He made the stops that we needed him to make. I thought the effort level tonight by committee was very good,” said Matsos.
Barrie constantly attempted to beat the rookie netminder on the glove side, which Matsos says only benefitted their team.
“You can tell he played catch with his dad when he was young,” said Matsos.
Of those 44 shots, the majority of them came from the outside, near the blue line, which can be a testament to the defensive effort by the club.
“The low danger areas, teams are going to filter pucks on net, they’re getting them from the outside and we’ll deal with our goaltending if those start going in. If we’re going to give them the wide shots, the point shots from way out, that’s what we’re giving up, I can deal with that,” said Matsos.
Dmitry Sokolov continues to run hot as the Russian winger who scored 30 goals last season in his first OHL campaign, netted his 19th on the year, which ended up being the game-winning goal.
That goal also moves him into the top five in the OHL.
But it’s something he doesn’t focus on, he plays his game and lets the puck fly.
“I don’t think about this before a game, just play my game and that’s it,” said Sokolov.
Sudbury may not have got off to the start they wanted once again, as they were outshot 21-4 after the first period, but led where it counts in the goal department 1-0.
With a player per team in the penalty box for four-on-four hockey, Sokolov fed a pass to David Levin at the side of the net, Levin just missed an open net, but still wanted to pick up a point, so he fed the puck back to Sokolov who beat Christian Propp who was scrambling.
The second period was where the Wolves did the rest of their scoring, and where they got back into the game shot wise.
Sudbury outshot Barrie 19-12 in the second period.
While on the power play, Kyle Capobianco fired a shot from the point, it bounced around a few times before finding the back of the net.
Sokolov and Levin picked up assists Capobianco’s sixth of the year.
Twenty-three seconds later the Wolves were still hungry.
David Levin made a great forechecking play that won the puck for the Wolves, it came around to Alan Lyszczarczyk who found Darian Pilon in the slot for a one-timer.
It was Pilon’s seventh.
The Wolves then played the third period very well with the lead, staying patient and not forcing anything.
It was back to back periods the coaches will take every game.
“I didn’t love our start, that’s something we were kind of battling with, but I liked our second and third bounce back periods,” said Matsos.
“I really enjoyed watching our team in the second and third period,” said Matsos.
After the game, McGrath sealed the shut-out and got himself a nice big bear hug from fellow goalie Zack Bowman.
“We get along very well we always joke around in the rooms and stuff, so it’s nice to get a nice big hug from him after,” said McGrath.
With the win Sudbury moves to 13-14-2 and now already have more wins than the 2014/15 Wolves had all season.
They sit seventh in the Eastern Conference, but second in the Central Division.
Sudbury gets a bit of rest as they will have almost a full week off before welcoming some Western teams to town.
For the only time of the season Flint will be in town Friday and then Windsor comes Saturday.
