Five minutes into the second period of their first post-Christmas game, the Sudbury Wolves appeared to still be carrying some of the momentum from a huge 7-1 win over the Oshawa Generals that sent the lads packing for their holiday break ten days ago.
Though they trailed the division-leading North Bay Battalion 2-1 on the road, the Wolves were playing the veteran-laden team fairly evenly, going shot for shot and trading chances.
By the end of the middle stanza however, any remaining holiday cheer was gone.
Seven unanswered goals by the Battalion, including five in that period alone, opened a gap that the visitors were simply unable to close as North Bay vanquished the Wolves by a final score of 7-3, with a rematch set for Friday night in Sudbury.
Once again, the start to the contest was not at all bad for the nickel city crew, with Alex Pharand breaking the ice just 29 seconds in, netting his 14th of the season as both Nathan Villeneuve and Dylan Robinson recorded assists. Ironically, neither of those two players would finish the contest on the bench.
Josh Bloom deadlocked the contest at one three minutes later before Owen Van Steensel gave the Battalion a lead they would never relinquish midway through the frame.
As noted above, the second period proved to be the undoing of the Wolves on this night, the Pack surrendering markers to Jacob Therrien, Pasquale Zito, with back to back goals, Bloom, with his second and Kyle Jackson.
That barrage would come in a span of just 10:04, with the final two goals beating Nate Krawchuk as Joe Ranger was pulled with North Bay leading 5-1.
A pair of third period goals from Kocha Delic added at least an air of positivity to the end of the contest (with Krawchuk actually earning a helper on both plays), though some of that plus was offset by game misconducts to both Villeneuve (for leaving the bench to engage in a fight) and Robinson (five and a game for cross-checking).
North Bay outshot Sudbury 47-40 on the night and while official scoring chances are not an on-line registered stat in the OHL, Wolves head coach Derek MacKenzie believed those numbers to be reasonably close as well.
“It’s another game where we out-chanced our opponents,” said MacKenzie. “They were more opportunistic than us and they obviously won that game, but I’m not sure the score is a really good indication of our game as a whole.”
Content with the effort in general, the Sudbury native who made his bread and butter at the NHL level largely for his prowess on the defensive side of the puck understands all too well that there is a need for his team to improve, game in and game out, in that area in particular.
“We need to bear down at times and find ways to keep pucks out of our net,” said MacKenzie. “Although we did out-chance them in every period, we still want to tighten up and give up less chances. That was probably the first game in a long time where we gave up more chances than we wanted to.”
Though the first game after the Christmas break can sometimes prove a challenge, that wasn’t a pathway that MacKenzie felt should have been applicable in any sense for his squad. “If anything, it’s disappointing because the guys got back early and to me, we had three good ice times where we were able to work on some things and the pace was good.”
“When you make those kinds of sacrifices, you are certainly hoping for results that are a little bit better.”
MacKenzie and company will not have a whole lot of time to dissect their mistakes and adjust, with North Bay coming to town for the next installment of this rivalry in less than 48 hours, with the Wolves then making the trip to Sault Ste Marie on Saturday.
In other scheduling news, the OHL announced on Wednesday that the December 17th game that had the Wolves visiting the Niagara Ice Dogs has now been rescheduled to Wednesday, January 18th.
