The Sudbury Wolves stayed right with the No. 3 nationally ranked Soo Greyhounds for the first period.

The wide gap between the teams was glaring the rest of the way, however.

The Wolves and Greyhounds were tied 1-1 after one period, but the Hounds turned it on in the second and left the locals in dust, outshooting Sudbury 26-1 in the frame and scoring four goals to turn a tight game into a laugher at Essar Centre in Sault Ste. Marie on Wednesday night that ended in a 6-1 Sault win with the Wolves managing a meagre five shots on goal in the second and third periods combined.

It was the fifth straight loss for the Wolves and the fifth straight game where they were unable to score five on five as they fell to 1-5-0 on the season, while the Greyhounds improved to 5-0-0.

Paul Fixter was one unhappy hockey coach after the game.

“It was very disappointing and discouraging, and I have to be honest, that is as embarrassed as I have been as a hockey coach and there’s nothing that compares to it in my time with the Wolves,” he said. “I’m at a loss of words to describe why there is not more pride for the beautiful jersey we wear and I expect more compete from those guys.

“They came to play in the second period and we didn’t, other than (goaltender) Troy Timpano, who was outstanding, and he kept the game respectable for us or it could have been really ugly,” Fixter continued. “I have to give a shoutout to (Danny) Desrochers, (Nathan) Pancel and (Brody) Silk, they played hard, the rest decided to take the night off.”

Desrochers took no solace in being singled out for praise.

“I think we just broke down,” Desrochers said. “We played them well defensively last game (a 2-0 Hounds win last Friday) and in the first period, as well, and I don’t think we were as hard on their guys as we should of been. I think we gave them too much respect and we just weren’t battling or competing for the puck.

“It’s frustrating, but we have to come together soon and I know we have the guys to do it,” he added. “We have to pick ourselves up. Obviously, we need to be frustrated and play with anger and come out next game and not worry about our record right now and play like we want to win. It was a tough game, but we have to figure ourselves out and not break down.”

The Wolves actually opened the scoring when Nathan Pancel notched his first goal and point of the season on a great shorthanded effort when he stole the puck at his own blueline and broke in alone on Hounds goalie Brandon Halverson, shot from the slot and tucked in his own rebound with a backhand at 12:59 of the first period.

Jared McCann, in his first game of the season for the Greyhounds after recovering from mononucleosis, evened the score with a hard one-timer from the point with the Sault on a power play at 15:33 of the first.

Shots on goal in the first favoured the Greyhounds 14-11.

The rest of the game was all Sault Ste. Marie.

Michael Bunting put the Greyhounds in front when he completed a nice three-way passing play into the Wolves zone when he put a hard shot from the high slot past Timpano 3:52 into the second period.

The Greyounds pulled ahead 3-1 when Gustav Bouramman’s point shot deflected off Jeff Corbett’s leg and past a helpless Timpano with the Soo on a power play at 6:02 of the second.

Medric Mercier put the Hounds ahead 4-1 when he skated into the slot untouched and scored on a backhand at 13:12 of the second frame.

The Wolves took a timeout following the Soo goal, but it didn’t stem the tide.

The Wolves lost veteran centre Jacob Harris after he was hit hard and went awkwardly into the boards with 1:18 left in the second period and was helped to the bench in obvious pain after a long period on the ice.

The Wolves finally managed a shot on goal with a minute left in the second despite having a pair of power plays earlier in the frame.

The Soo pulled ahead 5-1 when Tyler Hore scored from the point off a faceoff with 9.8 seconds left in the second period.

Shots on goal were 40-12 after the second.

Charley Graaskamp wrapped up the scoring when he tucked a rebound into the net with 58 seconds left in the third period.

The Wolves had trouble mounting any sort of comeback in the third after taking four minor penalties and were outshot 12-4 in the final frame.

Timpano finished with 46 saves in goal for Sudbury, while Halverson blocked 15 for Sault Ste. Marie.

The Wolves were without Evan de Haan, Nick Baptiste and Chase Hawley, all of whom are injured, and forward Brady Pataki, who was a healthy scratch.

The Wolves return to action Friday when they host the Owen Sound Attack at Sudbury Community Arena at 7:30 p.m.

Bruce.heidman@sunmedia.ca

On Twitter: @bheidmanSS