Any coach will tolerate a loss when the effort is put in and the team’s competitive level is there, but that wasn’t the case during the Wolves 7-4 loss in Peterborough Thursday night.
“You can’t win in any league when you have three players going,” said Head Coach Paul Fixter. “Faksa, Kahun and Baptiste were the only guys that showed up tonight.”
Nick Baptiste had two goals and one assist, Radek Faksa scored once and Dominik Kahun chipped in with three assists.
“We didn’t play well enough to deserve a win. The score was closer than the game really was,” Fixter said. “The players are lucky there’s a game tomorrow night or they would pay the price for tonight’s lack of effort.”
Nick Baptiste scored the first goal of the game at 4:59 of the first period, but the Petes responded with four unanswered goals to take a 4-1 lead into the dressing room at the end of the first period.
The two teams traded goals in the second period with Radek Faksa getting his second goal in a Wolves uniform, his 18th overall as the Wolves trailed 5-2 heading into the third.
Goals by Baptiste, his 27th and Kevin Raine, his second, cut the Peterborough lead to 5-4 and despite several glorious chances to tie the game with the goalie on the bench, that’s where the Wolves scoring ended.
The Petes scored twice on the the empty net in the final minute to secure the win.
Faksa’s goal came on the power play, the Wolves first power-play goal in 2014.
They entered the game 0-24 in the first eight games of the New Year with the goal snapping a 0-26 slump.
Wolves goalie Franky Palazzese got the start but was pulled after allowing three goals on seven shots.
Troy Timpano faced 17 shots the rest of the way and allowed two goals against.
The Wolves don’t have much time to think about the loss. The team arrived back in Sudbury around 2 a.m. and turned their focus to the Saginaw Spirit — their opponent at 7:30 p.m.
The Wolves dropped a 4-3 decision in Saginaw last Saturday night.
A win tonight would be the Wolves 13th straight on home ice setting a new franchise record.
“It’s never easy to forget games when you’re outplayed for 60 minutes, but we have to,” said Nick Baptiste. “We have to refocus because we have a big one ... against Saginaw. They beat us in their barn last weekend, so we have to make sure we beat them in our barn.”
Game Notes:
-Wolves scratches: Jacob Harris (team discipline), Kyle Capobianco (healthy) and Brody Silk (upper body).
-The Wolves outshot the Petes 41-26.
-The Wolves were 1-3 on the power-play while Peterborough was 1-1.
- 3 Stars: 1st Hunter Garlent (PBO); 2nd Nick Baptiste (SBY); 3rd Nick Ritchie (PBO).
