Wolves suffer third straight loss, second consecutive shutout

You can make it eight-plus periods since the Sudbury Wolves last scored a goal, and, as a result, they now have some company atop the OHL’s Central Division standings.

A 2-0 loss in North Bay Thursday night was the Wolves' third loss in a row and was the second straight game in which they were shut out.

The two points for the Battalion moves them into a tie for the division lead with both teams at 62 points. Sudbury gets the statistical nod for first simply because they’ve played one less game than North Bay.

As for the loss in the Gateway city, Wolves Head Coach Paul Fixter wasn’t impressed.

“They’re a frustrating team to play against, but I’m more frustrated with our effort tonight,” said Fixter after the game.

“Our give-a-shit meter wasn’t high enough.

“I don’t understand how you can’t get excited to compete in a game of that magnitude. We got outworked and we got out-competed and as the head coach I have to take responsibility for that, but you have to find a way to get yourself ready to go. We had some players that threw up big zeros tonight and it was very disappointing and embarrassing.”

The two teams played to a scoreless first period with the Battalion getting on the board at 15:46 of the second period. The Wolves trailed 1-0 after two, but the home team went up 2-0 with a goal at 3:08 of the third.

The Wolves had a chance to get back in the game with just over five minutes left in the third when Mathew Campagna was awarded a penalty shot, but he failed to even get a shot on goal when he lost the puck trying to deke North Bay goalie Jake Smith.

With the loss, the Wolves record drops to 27-16-3-5 with the team recording just two wins in their last nine games.

One of the Wolves who did compete and worked at creating chances Thursday night was forward Radek Faksa, who says they have to find a way to create offence with two more road games coming up on the weekend.

“We have to get more pucks to the net and a lot more traffic in front of the goalies and hopefully that will create some bounces that will go our way,” said Faksa.

“We know we can score goals, we just have to get the offence going and help out Franky Palazzese who has been keeping us in every game”.

The Wolves have a rare Friday night off before heading to St. Catharines to face the Niagara Ice Dogs on Saturday night followed by a Sunday night game against the Rangers in Kitchener.

Wolves forward Nick Baptiste missed his second straight game with concussion-like symptoms, but Fixter said he skated with the team on Wednesday and could be back in the lineup on the weekend.

Game Notes:
-Wolves scratches: Nick Baptiste (upper body), David Zeppieri (healthy) and Brody Silk (upper body).
-The Wolves were 0-2 on the power play while the Battalion was 0-1.
-North Bay outshot Sudbury 31-25.
-3 Stars: 1) Jake Smith (NB); 2) Barclay Goodrow (NB); 3) Ben Thompson (NB).