Third period goals from Alex Pharand and Landon McCallum allowed the Sudbury Wolves to overcome a 2-1 deficit and register a huge 3-2 win over the division-leading North Bay Battalion Friday night in Sudbury.
Following losses of 7-4 and 7-3 against the Battalion in their first two meetings of 2022-2023 and with five more head to head matchups still remaining for the northern rivals, the Wolves desperately needed a confidence builder against the Troop.
Even more importantly, the win allowed Sudbury (11-17-3-0 = 25 points) to move just one back of the Oshawa Generals (11-15-1-3) in the fight for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference - though the Wolves still have their sights set on making a run to overtake at least a couple more teams before the end of March.
On a night with many positive takeaways, few were likely as key as the local juniors receiving a more than solid effort between the pipes from rookie Nate Krawchuk as the 17 year-old native of Thunder Bay stopped 31 of the 33 shots that he faced, picking up his second win of the season but first in a starting capacity.
Krawchuk entered a game in Barrie earlier this month with the Colts leading 4-1 in the second, shutting the door as Sudbury walked off with a 5-4 come from behind overtime win.
The Wolves opened the scoring on Friday as David Goyette scooped up a loose puck in front of North Bay netminder Dom DiVincentis, potting a backhander around a pair of players and into the far corner of the net.
While Anthony Romani would pull the Battalion even before the end of the frame, credit linemate Ethan Procyszyn for doing much of the heavy lifting on the equalizer. Not only did Procyszyn outrace a Sudbury defender on a dump-in, but the 2022 first round pick then topped it off with a lovely behind the back touch pass directly on to the stick of Romani who made no mistake.
Things got a little more chaotic in the second half of the middle stanza, first as Alex Pharand was nabbed for a hook on a Nikita Tarasevich breakaway, allowing the Belarussian to net his ninth of the year on the ensuing penalty shot - a short-handed goal, no less.
With the intensity mounting, Sudbury blueliner Andre Anania was tossed for a spearing major, with a subsequent penalty to Dylan Robinson forcing the Wolves' penalty kill to be at their absolute best until early in the third.
The call to Robinson did not meet with the approval of the home town fans, the veteran defender sliding length-long to knock the puck away from Dalyn Wakely on another breakaway, taking the North Bay player down with him in the follow-through to the poke check.
Though many fans seemed convinced that making contact with puck first would negate the penalty, that rule was changed a few years back such that tripping can be called if the stick and body of the defender still bring the attacking player to the ice - which was clearly the case on this play.
The other alteration to the rule was that no penalty shot would be awarded, as long as the first point of contact for the defender was the puck.
Either way, with Krawchuk making a few key saves - which DiVincentis matched and then some at the other end of the rink - the Wolves were able to hold on for the tight win in what had all of the feel of a character-building victory.
The local OHLers have little to no rest before closing out 2022, having left for Sault Ste Marie immediately following last night's contest, a battle with the Soo Greyhounds set for 2:00 p.m. today (Saturday).
