Nick Damude set a franchise record with 60 saves to anchor the Philadelphia Wings as they took an 11-5 win over the Las Vegas Desert Dogs in their final game at Xfinity Mobile Arena. A season-high crowd of 9,913 took in the best goaltending performance in the last seven years and Philadelphia’s offense got going early to build an advantage that would end up being enough for the team’s second consecutive win.
The teams were back-and-forth on goals until Philadelphia went on a 5-0 run that spanned almost the entire second quarter. The run included a hat trick from Lukas Nielsen, who had a career night with four goals and three assists for seven points, and it made the score 7-3 at halftime.
Philadelphia would need the advantage – after scoring five goals on 10 shots against Alex Buque, Landon Kells came into the net and things got a lot more stingy. The Wings scored just twice on their next 10 shots and ended up putting only six goals over the final 43:55.
But Damude was even better. He stopped 24 of the 27 shots that came his way in the first half and then 31 of the 33 that Las Vegas took in the second, including a perfect 15-for-15 performance in the fourth quarter. That allowed Philadelphia to extend the lead just enough and the Loyal, Loud and Proud to enjoy a win going away as the Wings banged the boards one final time.
Kyle Jackson had a highlight-reel dunk goal among his two goals and four assists on the night, with Sam LeClair also posting a two-goal night. Eric Fannell, Landen Sinfield and Dalton Young also contributed goals on the evening. Bo Columbus was 10-for-20 on faceoffs, and Liam Patten and Chris Corbiel each had nine loose ball pickups.
The Wings have one game left, next Saturday night on the road in Vancouver, with faceoff on April 17 coming at 10:00 PM.
