The Sudbury Wolves were on the road on Sunday afternoon to take on the Mississauga Steelheads.
Jakub Vondras got the start in net for the Wolves while the Steelheads went with Jack Ivankovic as their starting goaltender.
It didn’t take long for the Wolves to find the back of the net in this game, as Quentin Musty scored his 26th goal of the season just 3:14 into the first period to give Sudbury an early 1-0 lead.
Just over three minutes later the Wolves would score again with Nathan Villeneuve’s 18th goal of the season to increase Sudbury’s lead to 2-0.
Barely a minute after that, Sudbury would score yet again thanks to Nicholas Yearwood’s sixth goal of the season putting Sudbury firmly in the lead by a score of 3-0.
David Goyette scored his 31st goal of the season at the 11:39 mark of the first period to give the Wolves a 4-0 lead.
Mississauga put themselves on the board at the 11:58 mark of the first period, thanks to Lucas Karmiris’ seventh of the season, making the score 4-1 for the Wolves.
Twenty-four seconds later, the Steelheads made the game closer with Porter Martone’s 30th goal of the season to pull the Steelheads within two, with the score being 4-2 for the Wolves.
Yearwood scored his second goal of the game with 5:30 remaining in the first period to give the Wolves a 5-2 lead, which is where the teams stood heading into the first period, with the Wolves leading 5-2 over the Steelheads.
Less than two minutes into the second period, Angus MacDonell scored his 20th goal of the season for the Steelheads to make the score 5-3 for Sudbury.
That was it for scoring until the 12:38 mark of the second period when Dalibor Dvorsky scored his 28th goal of the season, restoring Sudbury’s three goal lead to 6-3.
Mississauga started a comeback 1:59 later, with Lucas Karmiris’ second goal of the game, making the score 6-4 for the Wolves.
The Steelheads would pull closer thanks to a goal from Stevie Leskovar, his first of the season, making the score 6-5 for the Wolves, with one period remaining in regulation time.
Just over one minute into the third period Finn Harding scored his seventh goal of the season for the Steelheads, tying the game 6-6.
Dvorsky scored his second goal of the game, and 29th of the season, to put the Wolves in the lead by a score of 7-6 with 4:31 remaining in the third period.
The Steelheads scored with just 52 seconds remaining in regulation time thanks to Angus MacDonell’s second goal of the game, sending the game into overtime.
Just 40 seconds into the extra period Quentin Musty scored his 27th goal of the game to seal an 8-7 victory of an eventful game.
With the victory, the Sudbury Wolves now hold a record of 30 wins, 15 losses, three overtime losses, and two shootout losses, good for first place in the Central Division, first place in the Eastern Conference, and third place in the entire Ontario Hockey League.
The Wolves hit the road for a game on Valentine’s Day against the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds with a scheduled start time of 7:07 p.m. before coming back home for a game against the second place overall team, the Saginaw Spirit, on Feb. 16, with a puck drop scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
Super fan Robert McCarthy covers Sudbury Wolves games for Sudbury.com. Got a question for Robert? Email it to [email protected].
