Wolves comeback to upset Firebirds with five unanswered goals in the third-period

The Sudbury Wolves entered the third period of Friday night’s game trailing the Flint Firebirds 4-1, but the game was not over.

During the first two periods at the Sudbury Community Area the Wolves outshot the Firebirds by a large margin; 27 to 13 after the 40 minutes of play.

While Sudbury enjoyed the majority of time in the offensive zone to open the game, but it was Flint’s Gavin Hayes who opened the scoring on a power play at 3:18.

The Wolves continued offense pressure for the next several minutes when the Firebirds managed to break free of their end on a two-on-one. Coulson Pitre then fired Flint’s second shot of the night, again scoring on vetran goaltender Kevyn Brassard at 8:46.

Wolves head coach Derek Mackenzie then pulled Brassard from the game.

Pitre added his second of the game, 5:24 into the second period, before Nick DeGrazia put the Wolves on the board with a short-handed goal as he chased down a cleared puck and shrugged off a couple of Firebird defencemen to score on Flint goaltender Nathan Day at 9:58.

Zacharie Giroux, a local from Hanmer, who was teammates with Sudbury’s DeGrazia on the Rayside-Balfour Canadians in the NOJHL only a few years ago, did not want to make things easy on his hometown hosts and batted a bouncing puck past Wolves’ goalie Nate Krawchuk for a short-handed goal of his own at 13:07.

MacKenzie then changed up Sudbury’s lines late in the period.

• Download our app to get alerts on your device
• Get the latest newsletters right in your inbox

The new lines quickly found a rhythm as DeGrazia scored on a cross-ice pass from Alex Pharand just 1:43 into the third, followed by Kocha Delic scoring on a precise pass from Dylan Robinson; beating Day at 9:11.

Matthew Mania quickly tied the game after that with his seventh goal of the season at 10:07.

Wolves play-by-play announcer, Bryan Cooper, said it was potentially the goal of the night, in a tweet.

The tie score was the subject of a review as the net had come-off during the play, but officials confirmed the puck crossed the line prior to the net being displaced.

The NHL draft-eligible Mania had 12 points in 10 games in December and already has four in January, including three goals.

David Goyette scored the game-winner redirecting a shot from Andre Anania point shot at 19:17.

Goyette’s 26th goal of the season was also the subject of two reviews, one for a kicking motion during the play and secondly, on a Flint challenge, for goaltender interference.

Marc Boudreau ensured a Sudbury win scoring an empty-netter on an assist from DeGrazia with less than two seconds remaining.

“We have four really good lines … It was all the guys tonight, they’re out there grinding away and I thought for the most part overwhelming that team,” said Mackenzie, after the game.

Sudbury has just one loss in regulation through the last seven games, improving to 15-18-3-1 and remaining in eighth in the OHL’s Eastern Conference with 34 points after Friday’s win. The wolves are two behind the Hamilton Bulldogs and four down from Kingston Frontenacs, both Hamilton and Kingston also won their games Friday.

The Wolves hope to record another home-ice win against the Soo Greyhounds on Sunday afternoon.