The once comfortable playoff position held by the Sudbury Wolves has now become a precarious perch that the team is teetering dangerously close to the edge of.
The Wolves have been stagnant at 53 points for nearly two weeks, as they dropped their fifth straight game Wednesday night at the hands of the North Bay Battalion by a count of 4-2.
Sudbury carried a 2-1 lead into the first intermission thanks to goals from Drake Pilon and Zach Wilkie, but the lead would hold only until midway into period number two when Steve Harland potted his 27th goal of the campaign to draw the teams level.
A late second period goal from Rhys Forhan and an early third period goal by Daniil Vertiy was enough to get the Troop over the finish line as goaltender Brent Moran held the fort as Sudbury poured on the offence with 15 shots in the final frame.
More significant perhaps than the Wolves dropping their fifth straight game, is that the Battalion are hunting down the Wolves for one of the final playoff spots in the OHL's Eastern Conference.
With the loss to North Bay, the Wolves now sit just a single point ahead of both the Niagara IceDogs and Battalion who occupy the eighth and ninth spots in the conference respectively.
Sudbury does hold one game in hand on North Bay, but this will no doubt be a fight to the finish, as four teams are fighting for the remaining three playoff spots, with the top five spots already clinched.
If you need some context for how far off the rails things have gone for the Wolves of late, on Jan. 15, Sudbury beat the Mississauga Steelheads to move into a tie for first in the Central Division.
Fast forward to March 8, and the Steelheads have clinched the division and are 20 points ahead of the Wolves in the standings.
Sudbury will look to snap their losing skid Friday against the bottom-feeding Barrie Colts, at home at the Sudbury Arena. Puck drop is at 7 p.m.
