A Defensive Affair

The Philadelphia Wings used a 5-0 third-quarter run to turn a four-goal deficit into a one-goal lead, but the Colorado Mammoth clawed back and scored four of the game’s final five goals to take a 10-8 win at Wells Fargo Center on Saturday afternoon.

The game was a defensive affair in which goals were hard to come by early. Colorado tallied the first two of the contest, which were the only goals in the game’s first 13 minutes.  The Wings then answered with a pair, followed by a late Mammoth goal as the clubs combined for three goals in 59 seconds and a 3-2 Colorado lead at the quarter break.

There was then no scoring whatsoever in the second quarter until the final three seconds of the period, when the Mammoth tallied with 3.1 seconds left on the clock. The late goal gave Colorado a 4-2 lead at halftime.

The Mammoth extended their lead to 6-2 with the first two goals of the second half, but tthe Wings then rattled off five goals in the span of just under six minutes in the third quarter, with Phil Caputo’s tally giving Philadelphia a 7-6 advantage with 4:07 to play in the third.

Colorado knotted the score at 7-7 with a goal with 1:59 remaining in the third.  That deadlock stood until there was just over three minutes remaining in the game, when a goal from Thomas Vela gave the Mammoth an 8-7 lead. Just under two minutes later, Joe Resetarits tied the score at 8-8.

However, 26 seconds after that, Ryan Lee scored from distance to give Colorado a 9-8 lead, and Lee then added an insurance marker from behind the net with 1:33 to play.

Mitch Jones had a goal and seven assists for an eight-point day, while Joe Resetarits recorded a hat trick and four assists for a seven-point game.  Caputo had two assists to go along with his goal, and Brennan O’Neill chipped in a two-goal game. Sam LeClair also found the back of the net for Philadelphia.  Nick Damude made 45 saves on the day, while Steve DelleMonache went 10-for-21 on faceoffs in his NLL debut.

The Wings will visit the Toronto Rock in their next action next Saturday before returning home to host the Ottawa Black Bears on Friday, March 28.