In Act 1 on February 8th the Knighthawks came into the Wells Fargo Center and used an eight goal second quarter, and a nine goal second half to exit stage left with a 20-10 victory. Dan Dawson who had 11 points coming into the game, registered 11pts (4G/7A).
In Act 2 on February 23rd in Rochester NY, the Wings battled back from a four goal deficit in the first quarter and battled back for a 10-8 victory and exit stage right. With that victory, the Wings left a 14 game losing streak behind. The Stars in Act 2, Kevin Buchanan, Kevin Crowley, Drew Westervelt, and Brodie Merrill all with two goals apiece.
We now head to Act 3. The Final Act, unless we have an encore. As we know, in the Final Act, the performers leave it all on the stage. I wouldn’t expect anything less here.
The season series is tied at a game apiece, so the winner will hold the tie-breaker which could come into play when determining the seeds. A Rochester wins moves them to 6-6 and closer to a playoff berth. It will also give them 1.5 game lead + the tiebreaker over the Wings for second. A Wings victory moves the Wings back to second and another step closer to a playoff spot and also will have the tie-breaker. A Wings loss and they are at 5-8 tied with Colorado and Buffalo for the final playoff spot.
One thing the Wings do not want to do is fall behind early to the Knighthawks. The BCA can get loud, and their fans seem to bring it up another level when the Wings come to town. This is also the Knighthawks last home game of the regular season, so expect Knighthawk Knation to really be loud Saturday night.
Rochester is coming off a huge 12-8 win over the Toronto Rock last weekend. Dangerous Dan Dawson, Corey Vitarelli (2G/2A each), and Mike Accursi (3G/2A) led the way for the Knighthawks. Goaltender Matt Vinc (Defender of the Week) registered the win stopping 47-55 shots, also registered 1 assist.
For the Wings they are coming off a weekend they like to forget. Friday night an embarrassing 20-11 thrashing by the Swarm, then another defeat to the Mammoth 10-9 after trailing 10-4 at the half. Silver lining here was Brandon Miller shut down the Mammoth offense in the second half by not allowing a goal, but the offense couldn’t get the tying goal as the Mammoth picked up a loose ball in the final six seconds.
Philadelphia needs to come out quick and make a statement and own the middle of the offensive zone. With all the Wings healthy, we have the full roster. Brendan Mundorf who returned to action last weekend (3G/2A) looks as if he has been playing all season, so this will help the left side of the offense. The defense and Brandon Miller need to play as they did in the second half of the Colorado game.
This game will be broadcasted on CBS SPORTS NETWORK. As they open there 2013 television schedule.
Both Rochester and Philadelphia are back in action Sunday. Rochester travels to Toronto for a 3pm start. And the Wings head home to host the Swarm at 4pm in a rematch of last weeks game.
For the Wings, 75% of the season is gone, but as far as the Wings are concerned every game from this point on is a playoff game
