The Barrie Colts had the lead going into both the first and second intermissions, and even chased Sudbury's starting netminder to the bench, but it wasn't enough to hold off the Wolves in Ontario Hockey League action Saturday night at the Barrie Molson Centre.
The Wolves scored four unanswered goals en route to a 6-4 win, including a pair from 16-year-old Newmarket native and former York-Simcoe Express standout Quinton Byfield.
The two teams were playing the second game in a home-and-home series this weekend, with the Colts eking out a 1-0 overtime win Friday night up in Sudbury, where Barrie captain Jason Willms scored that game's lone goal.
But Saturday night was another matter, with seven different goal scorers having their names penciled in on the score sheet before the final buzzer in front of 3,714 fans.
Scoring for Sudbury were Byfield and Nolan Hutcheson with two apiece, Barrie-area native Macauley Carson and Emmett Serensits, while Barrie's markers came from alternate captain Tyler Tucker (2), Luke Bignell and Sam Rhodes.
Colts netminder Jet Greaves allowed five goals on 37 shots, while Sudbury's Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen surrendered one goal on 11 shots after entering the game in relief for starter Jonathan Lemaire, who gave up four goals on seven shots to start the game before getting the hook.
The Colts (24-31-3-1, 9th in the East) remain squarely in the playoff hunt, with the regular season coming to a conclusion on March 17, but still on the outside looking in.
Barrie is three points back of the Peterborough Petes (26-29-1-2, 8th in the East) with nine games remaining.
Sudbury (36-17-3-2, 4th in the East), meanwhile, has already clinched a playoff spot.
But things aren't about to get any easier for the Colts, with their next two home games against the top two teams in the conference.
They're back in action next Thursday when they host the OHL's top team, the Ottawa 67's (44-10-3-2, 1st in the East), at the BMC.
The Colts will round out next weekend's action with a road game Friday night in Mississauga versus the Steelheads (29-22-5-2, 5th in the East) before returning home to host the Niagara IceDogs (36-15-7-0, 2nd in the East) on Saturday night.
