BRAMPTON, Ont. – The Brampton Battalion hosts the Sudbury Wolves in Ontario Hockey League action at 2 p.m. Sunday, marking the second of three straight games against Central Division rivals. 

The Battalion blew a two-goal third-period lead and lost 5-4 via shootout to the host Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors on Friday night.

“We have to be resilient,” said Battalion coach Stan Butler. “We practise Saturday and then we have another tough game against Sudbury on Sunday. We have to be ready to go.”

The Battalion boasts a won-lost-extended record of 25-11-9 for 59 points atop the division, two behind the Ottawa 67’s in the Eastern Conference.

Sudbury is 24-15-3 for 51 points, tied with the Barrie Colts for third place in the division.

The Wolves, without Brody Silk, suspended 12 games for a blow to the head of Ryan Strome of the Niagara IceDogs in a 5-2 home-ice loss Jan. 13, won 4-3 Saturday night at St. Catharines over the second-place IceDogs. Michael Sgarbossa scored two goals, including the winner, and added two assists. Barrie, which downed the visiting Guelph Storm 4-2, is at Brampton next Friday night.

“Sudbury is a good team, and hopefully our guys learned from the game against Mississauga that we can’t take bad penalties late in a hockey game,” said Butler.

The Troops led 4-2 in the third period before Mississauga’s Riley Brace scored two late goals, including a power-play marker at 19:19 to tie the game while Dylan Blujus was off for tripping. Brace had three goals and one assist.

“Even though their third goal wasn’t counted as a power-play goal, it was at the end of the power play, so really they scored both goals off their power play,” said Butler.

The Battalion, 11-1-5 in its last 17 games, has lost in regulation time just once in the last quarter-season, a 3-2 home-ice setback Jan. 12 to the Belleville Bulls, since losing 4-0 at Sudbury on Dec. 2.

The Wolves, who hold three games in hand on the Troops, are 11-5-2 in their last 18.

“The reality is we want to be better and we want to play better every game,” noted Butler. “I’m not really concerned about how other teams are playing right now. I have to be concerned about how we’re playing.”

Said Butler: “If we can win Sunday, that means we get five out of a possible six points this weekend, which is still a good weekend. If you can get four or five out of six points every weekend, you’re going to be in good shape.”

The Battalion continues to display strong defence, having allowed only 51 shots in its last three games, including just nine in a 3-0 home-ice victory Thursday night over the Plymouth Whalers. The Troops set a club record in the process, holding the Whalers without a shot in the second period.

“We try to play a style that frustrates teams,” said Butler. “We check really hard, and they don’t have a lot of room.”