The Sudbury Wolves are still trying to get their offensive jets rolling after dropping a 7-2 blowout on the road against the Brantford Bulldogs on Friday night, falling to zero wins, four regulation losses and one overtime loss on the season.
Wolves’ veteran goaltender Finn Marshall was the starting goaltender for Sudbury Sept. 27, while Ryerson Leenders took his spot between the spot for the Brantford Bulldogs.
Just over five minutes into the first period, Cooper Dennis for Brantford scored his first goal of the season after receiving a pass from a teammate right in the slot, assisted by Aiden O’Donnell and Caleb Maholtra, giving the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead.
With 8:28 remaining in the opening period, Sam McCue put the puck behind Marshall for his first of the season with a one timer that found its way past Marshall, assisted by Adam Benak and Owen Protz, increasing Brantford’s lead to 2-0, which is where the teams stood after the first period.
With just under three minutes left to play in the middle frame, and Chase Coughlan serving a two-minute minor penalty for Elbowing, Caleb Malhotra scored a goal from the left circle, his second goal of the season, widening the Bulldogs’ lead further to 3-0.
With 2:04 left in the second, the Wolves’ finally cracked the scoreboard with Brayden Bennett’s second goal of the season off a two-on-one odd man opportunity, with the assists going to Mason Walker and Hudson Martin, making the score 3-1 for the Brantford Bulldogs after 40 minutes of play.
At the 6:43 mark of the third, Malhotra scored his second goal of the evening after Marshall made the initial save, assisted by Cooper Dennis and Aiden O’Donnell, restoring Brantford’s lead to three goals, by a score of 4-1.
Less than a minute-and-a-half later, Brantford gave themselves a huge lead when Marek Vanacker scored his first of the season after picking up his own rebound, with the assists being awarded to Adam Benak and Edison Engle, making the score 5-1 for Brantford.
With 5:57 left to play in the game, Cooper Dennis scored his second goal of the game off a scramble in front of Finn Marshall, assisted by Edison Engle and Caleb Malhotra, putting the Bulldogs in front by a score of 6-1.
The Wolves found themselves shorthanded with Blake Clayton serving a two-minute minor penalty for Cross Checking, leading to a shorthanded goal for Adam Benak on a breakaway, his first of the season, assisted by Caleb Malhotra, putting the game out of reach with a 7-1 lead for the Brantford Bulldogs.
The Sudbury Wolves scored one more with a shorthanded goal from Daniel Berehowsky, assisted by Vladimir Provorov, with 19 seconds left in the game, but it wasn’t enough, as the Sudbury Wolves dropped the game by a score of 7-2 against the Brantford Bulldogs.
The 0-4-1 Sudbury Wolves will search for that elusive first win of the season when they return home on Friday, Oct. 3, against the North Bay Battalion, with puck drop scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
Super fan Robert McCarthy covers the Sudbury Wolves and Sudbury Five for Sudbury.com. Got a question for Robert? Email it to [email protected].