These two teams cannot play an unexciting game.
The Philadelphia Wings traveled down to Georgia on Saturday evening to take on the Swarm. The last three games between them had all been decided by one goal with the last one decided in overtime. That trend continued with this game with a one-goal victory thanks to Brett Hickey 6:34 into overtime, sending the Swarm fans home unhappy.
“You should never lose a game 8-7,” said Swarm captain Jordan MacIntosh in frustration. “We had a great start but a bad second half. We have to figure some stuff out.”
Georgia hopped on the board early and dominated Philadelphia at the beginning. The Wings played quite sloppily in the beginning of the game, something that has happened in recent games, and so Georgia capitalized on their mistakes. They went up 4-0, with Shayne Jackson and Bryan Cole each trading goals before Philadelphia got on the board. Georgia again outscored Philadelphia in the second for a 6-2 lead at halftime. It appeared that the sting of the Swarm would be too much for the Wings to recover from, but the Wings fought back in the second half.
The Wings shut down the Swarm offense in the third quarter and outscored them 3-0. Corey Small and Ben McIntosh scored early in the fourth to give the Wings the lead. Georgia scored late in the fourth to tie the game 7-7.
Overtime brought a lot of shots, two of which were reviewed again by the officials. Finally Brett Hickey found the back of the net in an actual goal that ended the game.
For Philadelphia, Kevin Crowley was quieter than he had been, scoring just once and assisting twice. Ben McIntosh had a stellar game with a hat trick. In addition to Hickey’s game winning goal, heroics were also found with Zach Higgins, who kept the Wings in the game in the first half when the game quickly could have gotten out of hand. He ended with 53 saves and was the #2 star behind McIntosh.
Lyle Thompson was strangely quiet with only one goal and two assists. And Jordan Hall, who is notorious for being a “Wing killer” only added one goal. Mike Poulin made 40 saves.
The Swarm, now 2-4 and sixth in the East, need to figure things out if they want to see the post season. It is baffling how a team rich in offensive threats like the Swarm failed to reach double digits in goals.
The Swarm next face the Albany FireWolves on Feb. 4 where they will begin a weekend home-and-home series. The Wings host the Rock on Feb. 5 at Wells Fargo Center.
