Sting Come Up Short Against Wolves

The Sarnia Sting were looking for their third straight win and second win on this road trip, but the Sudbury Wolves had other ideas. This was the first time that these teams have played since the trade deadline, when in two separate trades, the Wolves acquired Adam Ruzicka from Sarnia and sent Anthony Tabak to the Sting.

Franco Sproviero opened the scoring for the Sting after almost ten minutes of play in the first period by battling hard in front of the net and finding a rebound to put past Wolves goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen which was his 17th goal of the season. Nick Grima and Calvin Martin drew the assists on the shorthanded goal.

That would be all of the scoring in the first period. Sudbury was leading in shots, 12-10.

The Wolves tied the game up seven minutes and forty-four seconds into the second period when Drake Pilon scored his ninth goal of the season, assisted by Liam Ross.

Sudbury added to their lead eight minutes later when Blake Murray scored his 21st goal of the season to make it 2-1. Nolan Hutcheson and Quinton Byfield drew the assists.

Fifty-three seconds later, Murray scored his second of the game and 22nd of the season to put the Wolves up by two goals. Hutcheson and Byfield again had the assists.

After the second period, Sudbury was ahead 3-1. The shots were again 12-10 for Sudbury in that period, making the total shots 24-20 for the Wolves.

Seven minutes and forty-one seconds into the third period, the Sting brought the game to within one goal when Ryan McGregor came in on the right side and dished the puck across to Hugo Leufvenius who tapped in his 28th goal of the season. Mitch Eliot had the other assist on the power play goal.

At exactly the ten minute mark of the third period, Ryan McGregor gets a chance while shorthanded and squeezes a wraparound past Luukkonen to tie the game at three goals apiece. Sean Josling had the assist on the shorthanded tally, McGregor's 19th of the year.

Unfortunately for the Sting, the Wolves went ahead 4-3 with just over three minutes to play, with former Sting Adam Ruzicka delivering the dagger, his 19th goal of the season. Owen Robinson and Cole Candella had the assists.

The Wolves would hold off the Sting for the remaining three minutes to come away with a 4-3 win. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 23/26 shots in the win, and Cameron Lamour stopped 35/39 shots in the loss.

Sarnia is back in action on Sunday for an afternoon game in North Bay.