Another overtime win for the Nickel Barons

The Sudbury Nickel Barons do not give themselves much breathing room when facing the Soo Thunderbirds.

Thankfully, they haven't needed much room in the first half of the 2014-2015 season.

For the third time in five meetings, the Barons emerged with a one-goal victory, squeaking past the T-Birds at the John Rhodes Arena this past Saturday.

Bradley Sutton lifted the Sudbury lads to their 17th win of the year, rifling the game-winning goal at 2:41 of the overtime frame and giving the Barons a 4-3 win over the Thunderbirds.

Eric Hillock (Soo) and Jimmy Roy (Sudbury) traded first-period goals, with the homeside grabbing the advantage in the second. Markers from Joey Ogden and Matthew Mitchell established a 3-1 lead for the Soo early in the middle frame, with Dylan Callaghan pulling his team to within one with a power-play tally at 18:21.

Christopher Rossi forced the overtime session when he recorded his seventh goal of the year midway through the final frame. Kevin Labelle picked up the win in net for Sudbury, turning aside 33 of the 36 shots he faced, while Brian Kment was tagged with the loss in a 26-save outing.

One point back of the Elliot Lake Wildcats, the Barons will tackle a tough home-and-home series with their divisional rivals, beginning this Wednesday in Copper Cliff before returning to Elliot Lake Friday evening for a 7:30 p.m. encounter.

Sudbury will close out their 2014 schedule with a trip to Mattawa on Sunday, back at home on Jan. 7, with the Blind River Beavers supplying the opposition.