The Philadelphia Wings endured a fourth quarter comeback by the Saskatchewan Rush to earn a 12-11 overtime win on Saturday night.
The win improves the Wings to 3-1 on the season, putting them in third place in the NLL. The loss ends the Rush’s perfect record and drops them to 3-1, tied with the Wings in the standings.
Mike Triolo opened the scoring for the Rush, spinning off a defender and making a crease dive. He was followed just 32 seconds later by Josh Zawada scoring from outside to give the Rush a two-goal lead. The Wings finally responded with less than a minute and a half left in the first quarter, followed by a flurry of goals in the dying seconds of the frame—three goals by Philly and one by Saskatchewan wrapped up the last 84 seconds of the quarter, leaving the game tied at three goals apiece.
The Rush started the scoring again in the second quarter, but then the Wings went on a four-goal run to take the lead, a lead they would hold on to for the next 23:45 of the game. Saskatchewan did all the scoring in the fourth quarter, finally tying the game at the 9:37 mark and forcing overtime.
Holden Cattoni put the game away at the 13:25 mark on an outside shot, giving the Wings the win and the Rush their first overtime loss in three tries this season.
Cattoni scored five times, including the game winner, but Mitch Jones was the top point-getter on the evening, with two goals and seven assists. Triolo led the way for the Rush with four goals and an assist.
Nick Damude stopped 47 shots to earn the win while Frankie Scigliano made 38 saves in the loss.
Both teams get a bye this week. Next up for Philadelphia is a home game against the Calgary Roughnecks on Saturday, Jan 11. The Roughnecks are 2-1 on the season, just a half game behind the Wings. This is a rare afternoon game, so we’ll see if the unusual time is a factor.
The Rush, meanwhile, will be hosting the Las Vegas Desert Dogs, also on the 11th. The Dogs are currently 0-4 so far, but they face the 1-3 Albany Firewolves this Saturday, so they may have an opportunity to get their first win of the season under their belt.
