The Philadelphia Wings swept the Rochester Knighthawks 3-0 this season with a 14-11 win to finish out the season. The win also dropped Rochester to the fourth seed in the East Conference and set them up for a date with the Buffalo Bandits in the quarterfinals.
Thomas Hoggarth scored first, putting the Knighthawks up 1-0. Chad Tutton quickly answered for the Wings and was promptly smashed into the glass. The rest of the first quarter (and really the first half) belonged to Philadelphia. Mitch Jones, Joe Resetarits and Kiel Matisz all found the back of the cage, giving Philadelphia a commanding lead.
The Wings continued that domination in the second quarter as they shut down the Knighthawks while going on a 5-0 run. Blaze Riorden scored two back to back as did Jones. Ben McIntosh added a goal to finish out the half.
The message to Rochester during the second half was to “chip away.” And chip away at the lead, they did. Rochester outscored Philadelphia 3-2 in the third, and has been the case with the Wings all season, it was a tale of two halves. Rochester outscored Philadelphia in the fourth quarter 7-2 to make the score respectable. However, it was too late to secure the win.
The Wings pulled out the victory with solid goaltending from Zach Higgins. They also pulled out the win without Trevor Baptiste. He took a shot to the face (while not wearing his helmet) before the game. And, once again, it was Mitch Jones leading the way with eight points. His three goal, five assist night helped secure the win for the Wings.
The aggressive play on both ends leaves many fans scratching their heads as to where this team was all season. The Wings played like they had something to prove. Unfortunately, it was all for naught as they will not make it to playoffs—something that many of the veterans felt positive would happen.
