After a slow start to the game on both sides, the Wolves woke up in the third and managed to score three unanswered goals in the final frame to secure a 4-1 win over the North Bay Battalion in Sudbury on Friday night.
It’s the fourth win for the Wolves over the Troops in five games this season, the only blemish on Sudbury’s record is a 6-5 overtime loss in North Bay on November 17.
Overall, the Wolves (20-10-5-0) have won three in a row, and have not lost in regulation in their last five games. The Battalion find themselves on the opposite side of that equation, falling to 14-19-3-0 on the year, and haven’t picked up points in back-to-back games since Nov 30 – Dec 8 where they had wins over Sault Ste. Marie and Flint, in between an overtime loss to Erie.
The goals came in quick succession within the first ten minutes of the third. Lucas Di Giantommaso broke in over the blue line and fed the puck perfectly over to Hudson Chitaroni (5) who got behind the defence and beat North Bay’s new netminder Jack Lisson on the stick side to get the Wolves ahead 2-1 at 6:08.
The Wolves then gave themselves some insurance when Luca Blonda received a pass at the top of the slot. He stepped into it and roofed it, going bar down over the glove side shoulder of Lisson, and it quickly put the home side ahead 3-1, with the goal coming at 8:52.
Kieron Walton (23), who has been on a heater for the last month and half, scored an empty net goal at 17:03 to put the game away. It was Walton’s third point of the night, and the Winnipeg Jets sixth round draft pick (#187 overall in 2024) now has a point in 17 straight games. He has 41 points (15-26-41) over that span and he’s recorded four goals and 11 points in five games against the Battalion this year.
Making his first career OHL start, Lisson was in net for the North Bay Battalion and didn’t look out of place for someone who had not played at this level of hockey before, let alone someone who hadn’t suited up for game action since December 14, when he last played for the West Kelowna Warriors of the BCHL.
He made all seven stops the Wolves fired at him in the first period and was almost as perfect in the second period, making eight saves on nine shots. The lone goal coming at 12:04. Nathan Villeneuve (15) fired a puck that hit the post behind Lisson. It bounced over to Alex Pharand, who sent it off to Walton, who dished it back to Villeneuve and he didn’t miss his second chance, getting the Wolves ahead 1-0.
Outside of that, the opening 40 minutes were solid for Lisson and even in the third, there wasn’t much he could do on those point-blank chances by the Wolves.
It looked like Lisson might really get tested when Sudbury went on the power play in the second period when Lisson’s fellow BCHL alumni Nick Wellenreiter was sent to the box for slashing at 5:23. But the Battalion penalty kill unit was outstanding, not letting the Wolves get any chances from in close, and routinely cleared the puck out of the zone.
In fact, the best scoring chance within that two-minute advantage came right at the end for the Battalion, who got a shorthanded breakaway. Andrew LeBlanc stole the puck at the North Bay blue line and took off, going down the ice getting in all alone on Sudbury goaltender Nate Krawchuck (14-6-5-0). He tried to pull the puck around the netminder on his back hand, but couldn’t beat Krawchuck on the glove side. The Wolves defense then stood still and stared at LeBlanc while he took another couple of whacks at the puck, trying to force it under the pads of the Wolves netminder before it was cleared out of the area.
The Battalion had plenty of chances to take a lead back in the first period when they were awarded three power play opportunities but couldn’t convert. The Sudbury Wolves have the fifth best penalty kill at 82.2% coming into the game, with a 79.1% success rate at home. Not to mention Krawchuck was coming off a 40 saves performance in 4-1 win over the Colts in Barrie on Thursday night. He turned aside all 12 pucks the Troops put on net in the first period.
“It was good for us to get on the power play, but we obviously have a lot of work to do in terms of getting our offence going,” Shamar Moses told the OHL tonight broadcast during the first period intermission. “Neither team was able to get it going. We have to make sure we keep sealing that wall and respond hard on the forecheck and generate some good chances here.”
Going into the game Moses had piled up 23 assists this season, with 15 of those coming on the power play. Moses was asked about how the team is trying to convert that production into five-on-five situations. He says, “I think it’s all about just sticking to the game plan. It comes down to fore-checking, finishing our checks and creating turnovers. We know our game plan; we know where our guys are going to be, and we just have to stick with it and we can start creating more of those chances.”
The Battalion certainly created a lot of chances in the second, putting 12 shots on net, but only able to get the one goal by Krawchuck evening things up late in the period. Wellenreiter, scoring his sixth goal of the season (he now has nine points in his first 13 games in a Troops uniform) got the play started by making a nice poke check in the neutral zone to get the puck off Blonda. Lirim Amidovski then brought the puck into the zone, worked his way to the near side boards then slid a pass behind the defence, right onto Wellenreiter’s stick, just above the crease. Wellenreiter dragged the puck across the top, got Krawchuck to go down, and lifted it over the glove side of the sprawling netminder, getting the score to 1-1 at 16:16.
Those are the kinds of plays and sequences the Battalion will need to focus on and make good on down the stretch.
“We’re looking to make a push, we are a younger team but we know what we are capable of and we believe in the guys we have. We just need to stay consistent and keep building on the lessons we are learning as a young team,” says Moses.
The Battalion went 0 for 5 on the power play and 4 for 4 on the penalty kill, outshooting the Wolves 29-26.
This ends a tough five games in seven days stretch for the Battalion following the Christmas break, and they now have the rest of the weekend off before hosting the Kingston Frontenacs on Thursday at Memorial Gardens.
