Wolves looking for answers after 11th straight loss

Sudbury Wolves forward Nick Baptiste isn’t thinking about the last loss the team took. Baptiste is looking at the next win the team will earn. It is this positive outlook Baptiste believes will lift the Wolves out of the ugly hole they have dug themselves and get back in the win column.

The Wolves lost their 11th straight game Friday night, falling 6-4 to the visiting Peterborough Petes at Sudbury Community Arena. Their record dropped to 1-11, and they sit last overall in the OHL.

The next win isn’t going to happen by magic. No team is going to give the Wolves a charity win. The next victory is going to come because the Wolves simply had enough of losing and wanted a win more than anything else.

“Every guy on the team, myself included, have to demand more from themselves and expect to win no matter what,” Baptiste said. “It’s tough to be where we are … we’re in a situation were we can turn things around. We have the guys to do it. We have the leaders to do it. It comes down to wanting it more and demanding more from ourselves.”

Despite being outshot 14-8 in the first period, the Wolves held a 1-0 lead thanks to a goal by Matt Schmalz. The towering forward smacked a cross-crease pass from Pavel Jenys past Petes’ starting goalie Dylan Wells at 15:36 to give Sudbury the lead.

It fell apart in the second period as undisciplined and sloppy play by the Wolves allowed the Petes to score four straight goals by Josh Maguire, Greg Betzold, Steven Varga and Nick Ritchie, including one short-handed and one on the power play.

“It was a good start. The second period got away on us a bit,” Sudbury head coach Paul Fixter said.

Sudbury got some life late in the second period when Jacob Harris found the back of the net at 18:31 to make it 4-2 for Peterborough. More penalties in the third period dealt damaging blows to Sudbury. Overall, Sudbury gave Peterborough nine power play advantages, including two five-on-three situations. Needless to say, the Petes made the Wolves pay. Peterborough made it 6-2 by the 12:18 mark of the third period after goals by Michael Clarke and a power play tally by Josh MacDonald.

“I think there’s really one big factor tonight, and that was penalties,” Fixter said. “We just took far too many penalties. Undisciplined penalties. Some questionable calls. That was the real difference for me. The turning point in the game was the short-handed goal we gave up. It was a tough goal to give up.”

If there was a silver lining to the loss, it was the fact the Wolves didn’t roll over and give up. They kept pressing. Baptiste, who returned from an upper body injury that had cost him the first 10 games of the season, lit the lamp for two late goals to make the score 6-4. That was it for Sudbury.

“Obviously it was nice to score, but we lost and we are losing,” Baptiste said. “We were in that game. We took some penalties, myself included - I took a dumb one. We have to eliminate the stupidness from our game and I think we’ll be alright.”

Sudbury starting goalie Sam Tanguay faced 46 shots. He was sharp early, but could only fend off the Peterborough shooters for so long.

“I thought Sam played well tonight,” Fixter said. “We’re in such a funk, We need one of the two (goalies) to steal a game for us. Really. I’m not putting extra pressure on these guys. That would really help if we just got a goalie to steal a game at some point in this long stretch.”

Fixter and the other coaches and players are all looking for the right answer to solve the losing ways. Fixter wants his players to keep their heads up and keep fighting the good fight because the win will come.

“I really feel for the team,” Fixter said. “These guys care. I know probably from the outside it doesn’t look that way, but they do. They are beat up. We still have some breakdowns that are costing us obviously, but I feel for the guys. It’s tough on them. What’s it going to take? A solid effort, team sticking together, staying within the system, maybe a goalie stealing one for us. It’s going to end, I believe. We just have to keep showing up and emptying our tanks and doing the things we believe will get us out of this.”

The Petes have also struggled to start the 2014-15 season. Despite returning key veterans at many positions, the Petes limped out of the gate at 1-5-1-2 in their first nine games before ringing up victory No. 2 over Sudbury. Head coach Jody Hull

“Maybe with all the returning guys this season, they didn’t think they were going to have to work as hard as they did last season and we have been caught off-guard to start this season,” Hull said. “We have to keep playing lunch pail hockey and work harder. We can have some success if the players have good puck management, especially leaving our own zone. It will come.”

The Wolves return to action Saturday when they host the Erie Otters at 7 p.m. It is Fabio Belli Memorial Night. The Otters are ranked second overall in the CHL Top 10. The Wolves must bring their absolute best to beat Erie and not lose 12 in a row.

“We have to respond to a great team coming in and match their intensity,” Baptiste said. “We need to get a win. We can’t keep losing.”

Game notes
-- The three stars of the game were: Nick Ritchie (first), Steven Varga (second) and Brody Silk (third). Sudbury scratched Trenton Bourque

-- Peterborough scratched Jason Da Silva, Artem Vladimirov, Adam Timleck and Jonathan Ang.

-- Jeff Corbett and Pavel Jenys both finished with three assists each.