NLL: Wings Face off with Mammoth

This afternoon the two oldest franchises in NLL history take the field in NLL action.  The Philadelphia Wings (3-3), flying high after defeating the Rochester Knighthawks last night 10-8 ending an eleven game losing streak will face the Colorado Mammoth.  The Mammoth are led by 2012 MVP John Grant Jr and Rookie of the Year Adam Jones.

All time the Wings are 30-14 against Colorado, 16-6 in Philadelphia.  This includes the Mammoths previous seasons in Baltimore (1987-1999), Pittsburgh (2000), and Washington (2001-2002).  Since the teams move to Denver the Wings are 8-4 overall and 4-2 in Philadelphia.

Last Season the teams split their two meetings winning on the others home floor.  Brendan Mundorf’s goal with just under 3 seconds won the game in Colorado, but two days later Adam Jones scored the game winner ten minutes into OT to split the season series.

The Mammoth are coming off a 14-7 defeat at the hand of the Edmonton Rush, a game in which 5 of the 7 goals where scored by Grant and Jones.  This Mammoth team has had question marks all season, especially in the goaltending area.  The first tandem was Roik and Levis, now its Roik and Lewis, as it has been a revolving door in the crease.  When the Mammoth seem to be back on track they get derailed.

They alternated wins and loses for the first four games, but have only scored 13 goals in the last two games. This is a Mammoth team that can score; they have the talent in Prout, Jr, Jones, Hawksbee and Pollock. If the goaltending comes around and stays on a steady track this can be a dangerous team, but right now they will have to rely on the offense to carry the major part of the load.

The Wings return home after a very big win 10-8 over the defending champion Knighthawks.  This victory stopped two 11 game losing streaks. Rochester’s 11 game winning streaks over the Wings, along with goaltender Matt Vincs’ 11 game win streak as well over the Wings dating back to the New York/Orlando Titan franchise.

A victory for the Wings today puts them in a tie for second place and only 1.5 games out of first.  The big guns led the way last night and will need to do it again tis afternoon.   Look for Brandon Miller to start this game as nothing helps you recover faster then a huge win.  Wings have to be careful as the Mammoth will come out quick knowing the Wings just finished playing 18 hours ago