TONIGHT’S GAME
The Philadelphia Wings play their only game in a three-week span tonight as they visit the Buffalo Bandits in their eighth game of the season. The game starts at 7:30PM and you can tune in on NBC Sports Philadelphia The Wings are coming off a bye week last week following a 13-5 win over the Albany Firewolves on Feb. 4, which was their first home- floor win of the season and snapped a three-game losing streak. The Wings are in a midst of a stretch that sees them play all nine of their home games over the course of 12 contests after starting the season with three straight on the road; in a smaller slice, this is the only road game in a stretch where Philadelphia is home for six out of seven games. They will also finish the season under those circumstances, with their home finale on April 2 followed by three abroad. The Wings are also off next week before returning to Philadelphia for a two-game weekend set on March 4 vs. New York and March 6 vs. Toronto.
LAST TIME OUT
Sat., Feb. 4 – Wings 13, Albany 5: The addition of Mitch Jones to the Philadelphia Wings’ lineup seemed to be like adding the final stone to the Infinity Gauntlet after the offense suddenly locked in for a 10-0
run spanning more than 30 minutes of game play in a victory over the FireWolves. After a quiet start that had the game tied at 1-1 late in the frist quarter, the Wings started their 10-goal run that lasted all the way into the fourth quarter and was anchored by a terrific night for Zach Higgins and the Philadelphia defense, which limited the Firewolves to just 44 shots on goal. Joe Resetarits went off for a first-half hat trick as part of a four-goal, four-assist night, while Jones had two goals
and four assists in his Philadelphia debut. It went around the horn from there – Ben McIntosh had two goals and two assists, Sam LeClair and Blaze Riorden each had a pair of goals, and Matt Rambo jumped into the party in the fourth quarter. After Conor Kelly scored 7:45 into the game, Albany did not (legally) score again until the 6:14 mark of the fourth quarter. The Wings were leading 11-1 when Albany snuck two shorthaned goals past Higgins on the same Philadelphia power play. Kelly had two goals on the contest, including a late one, but transition player John LaFontaine was the only other multi-goal scorer, grabbing a pair; the other shorthanded goal went to Colton Watkinson. The Wings kept the rest of Albany’s offense off the scoreboard, including Kieran McArdle and Tanner Thomson, the owners of 10 and six goals
on the season, respectively; each managed just a pair of assists on the contest. Higgins finished the game with 39 saves on 44 shots, while Trevor Baptiste was a perfect 22-for-22 on faceoffs and Ryan Wagner gobbled up 11 loose balls. Chad Tutton had an assist in his 100th career game.
VS BUFFALO
This is the second of two meetings between the longtime rival cities, whose lacrosse history against one another goes back to the early 1990s when the Bandits were founded. The Wings are 1-6 against Buffalo in six meetings all-time, with their only win coming on Feb. 15, 2020 at Buffalo, 7-6. Zach Higgins kept Buffalo off the board for a total of 26 minutes across the second and third quarters to anchor that victory.
LAST MEETING
Fri., Jan. 27 – Buffalo 13, Wings 9: The Bandits turned the tables on the Wings in the second half, using a last-second goal in the second quarter to start a comeback that led to an eventual 13-9 win. The Wings were ahead 6-2 on goals from five different players as the game approached halftime, but Brandon Robinson beat the buzzer to make it a 6-3 game at halftime. On the other side of the break, the Bandits scored the next six goals to move ahead 9-6. Philadelphia scored the next two goals to make it 9-8, but Buffalo then reeled off the next four to put the game out of reach. Dhane Smith had a nine-point game with two goals
