Wings Shot Down by Black Wolves,9-7

The reeling Philadelphia Wings (7-6) welcomes the New England Black Wolves (8-3) to the Wells Fargo Center for a pivotal Division March op on Saturday afternoon. A tense and physical battle that was dominated by penalties and goaltending, revealed New England jumping out to an early 2-0 lead with power-play strikes from Andrew Kew (2g,2a) at 1:54 and Jordan Durston (2g) just twenty-five seconds later.

In-Game Action

The parade to the sin bin continued as this time it would be Philadelphia nailing a man-advantage goal when Josh Currier (2a) set up Cory Vitarelli (2g) with a pretty feed and with just 2:49 played, there were already three goals. Joe Resetarits (1g,1a) grabbed his own rebound and slam dunked one behind Wings goalkeeper, Zach Higgins to put the lead back to two. Reilly O’Connor (1g,1s) also buried his own rebound and New England seemed to roll with a 4-1 lead. Isaiah Davis-Allen (1a) set up Liam Byrnes (1g) on a nice transition goal to close the first stanza with the visitors holding a 4-2 advantage.

Another Philly transition goal started by a Zach Higgins (1a) outlet to Blaze Riorden (2a) who hit Kiel Matisz (1g,1a) to make 4-3 at the 1:18 mark. Jordan Durston scored a goal from about 15 yards 2:07 later that put New England back up by two. On the advantage, Kevin Crowley (2a) fed to Matt Rambo (2g who buried a left-handed cannon that beat Player of the Game, Doug Jamieson and Philadelphia continued to battle.

Thiiiiis close to a tie game.#WeFlyTogether #NEvsPHI pic.twitter.com/9IjoYmMIaU
— Philadelphia Wings (@NLLwings) March 7, 2020

Kew scored on an overhand shot of his own to close the curtain on the first half with the Black Wolves howling, 6-4. Both defensive units continued to shine. Philadelphia would get the only two lamplighters with Rambo and a man up. Vitarelli goal took things to the final stanza all knotted up at 6-6. New England broke their 27:23 scoring drought on a pretty dodge move that Callum Crawford (2g,3a) buried. At the 4:45 mark, the visitors had a lead once again.

Adam Bomberry (1g) picked up a loose ball and took it to the house to give the wolves a two-goal edge. It took 2:01 for Crawford to put the pressure on Philadelphia and a 9-6 advantage. With Higgins pulled, Brett Hickey converted a Riordan. Crowley set up to get the Wings within 2 with 1:12 to play.

Just a scant few seconds later, the chippiness boiled over with Colton Watkinson of New England and Ryan Wagner getting into a tussle. Watkinson was assessed a minor, double minor, misconduct and game misconduct with Wagner being banged for a double minor, a five minute major a ten-minute misconduct and a game misconduct. The incident marked the end of the festivities for the afternoon.

Dis and Dat:

Face-offs favored Philadelphia at 11 for 20. The Wings dominated loose balls, 78-64.
The man advantage revealed Philadelphia netting 3 of 8 and the visitors 2 for 7.
The goaltenders were the story in this one. Doug Jamieson stopping 45 of 52 shots and counterpart, Zach Higgins making 39 saves out of the 48 he encountered

Kevin Neibauer

Kevin has followed and promoted the game of lacrosse since May 19, 1974.
The same day the Philadelphia Flyers won the Cup, the Philadelphia Wings were introduced to Neibauer and Philadelphia.

Kevin has covered many sports, including baseball, football, basketball, and.. lacrosse. A former licensed football referee and baseball umpire, Kevin brings a unique insight to his game coverage.

A published writer in JustHockey Magazine, Kevin covered the American Hockey League as well as a monthly story on a pugilist where Kevin used the pen name, The Rink Rat. Neibauer turned his attentions to lacrosse for a few years and does his part, whether podcasting or writing to grow the game. Kevin branched out to his roots and currently provides insight for all Philadelphia teams for Edge of Philly as well as his full-time duties with LaxPhilly.