Sudbury surges to Victory

The Sudbury Wolves blew open a one-goal game with three goals in a span of 1:23 while skating four a side early in the third period and downed the North Bay Battalion 8-3 Friday night.

Nathan Villeneuve scored two shorthanded goals and added an assist, while Quentin Musty had one goal and two assists. Jack Ziliotto, Chase Coughlan and Kocha Delic each provided one goal and one assist, and Ondrej Molnar and Alex Pharand added a goal apiece.

Goaltender Nate Krawchuk made 29 saves for Sudbury, which moved its won-lost-extended record to 23-17-5 for 51 points, third in the Ontario Hockey League’s Central Division and sixth in the Eastern Conference. The Wolves had lost their previous five games since a 10-6 win Jan. 12 over the visiting Kingston Frontenacs.

Andrew LeBlanc had one goal and two assists for North Bay, which got one goal and one assist from Ethan Procyszyn and its other goal from Zach Wigle. Goaltender Jack Lisson faced 43 shots before a crowd of 4,398.

The Battalion, which defeated the visiting Wolves 3-2 last Sunday, is 17-25-3 for 37 points, fifth in the division and ninth in the conference, one point behind the East Division’s Ottawa 67’s with a game in hand.

Procyszyn, converting LeBlanc’s breakaway rebound, scored his team-leading 26th goal of the season nine seconds into the third period on the power play to cut the Troops’ deficit to 4-3, but Bronson Ride and Villeneuve went off with roughing minors at 1:16, opening the floodgates.

Delic tipped home a point shot by Henry Mews at 1:36, Pharand tucked the puck behind Lisson from the crease at 2:01 and Musty ripped his 14th goal from between the hash marks at 2:59, giving Sudbury a 7-3 lead.

Penalty killer Villeneuve completed the scoring on a breakaway at 9:46, drilling his 22nd goal off a slap shot.

North Bay trailed 1-0 after 20 minutes before Wigle tied it with his ninth goal at 2:17 of the second period, beating Krawchuk to the glove side. It was Wigle’s third goal since a Jan. 5 trade from the Barrie Colts.

Ziliotto, a free-agent signee from the Trail Smoke Eaters of the British Columbia Hockey League, scored his first OHL goal at 12:50 for a 2-1 Sudbury lead.

The Battalion received a two-man advantage scheduled for 46 seconds after Molnar and Donovan McCoy were penalized at 14:26 and 15:40 respectively. LeBlanc, standing to the right of the net, stepped to the middle and fired the puck home for his eighth goal, assisted by Procyszyn and Shamar Moses, at 15:57.

Sudbury retook the lead when Villeneuve raced away shorthanded, pursued by Kent Greer, and crashed into Lisson while scoring at 16:36.

Coughlan scored yet another controversial goal on the power play at 19:58, putting the puck past Lisson and reefing the goaltender, for which he drew a roughing call. The goal, Coughlan’s 17th, assisted by Musty and McCoy, survived a video review.

Molnar struck at 2:44 of the first period. Villeneuve and Musty assisted on Molnar’s eighth goal.

The Battalion plays host to the Niagara IceDogs at 1 p.m. Sunday on Hockey Day in the OHL.

BATTALION BULLETS: For the Wolves’ third annual Indigenous Game, the team wore special sweaters designed by Michael Cywink of the Whitefish River First Nation, supported by Melanie Laquerre, creative director of the Shkagamik-Kwe Health Centre. The sweaters are to be auctioned until next Friday night, with proceeds supporting Indigenous youth in sports and mental wellness … After seven of eight meetings, the Battalion is 2-4-1. The teams face off at Memorial Gardens on March 23, the last day of the regular season … The Battalion went 4-7-0 in January … Wigle and Stepan Chukharev led North Bay with four shots on goal each. Villeneuve paced Sudbury with eight … The Battalion was 2-for-6 on the power play. Sudbury went 1-for-4 … Opening lines had Procyszyn centring left winger Lirim Amidovski and right winger Nick Wellenreiter, Wigle pivoting left winger LeBlanc and right winger Parker Vaughan and Ryder Carey centring left winger Ihnat Pazii and right winger Moses. Briir Long centred left winger Reyth Smith and right winger Chukharev … Defence pairings saw Ride with Jacob LeBlanc, Zach Wilson with Greer and Brayden Turley with Adrian Manzo … The Battalion scratched Aaron Enright, Jacob Therrien and Nolan Laird … Sudbury was without Gavin Ewles, Braydon Bruce, Blake Clayton and Tayjon Street … Mews is tied for the OHL lead in assists with Patrick Thomas of the Brantford Bulldogs with 49. In eight games since a trade from Ottawa, Mews has one goal and 10 assists for 11 points. Photo/article credit - North Bay Battalion