Philadelphia, PA – February 1- Blaze Riorden scored during a delayed penalty 31 seconds into overtime to lift the Philadelphia Wings to a 15-14 win over the Rochester Knighthawks, giving the Wings their first win of their first NLL season. Wings captain Kiel Matisz led the way with a hat trick and five assists, while Josh Currier had a hat trick and Jordan Hall chipped in with a five-point night.
After a fairly even opening quarter, the Wings pulled away with six consecutive goals over the second quarter and early minutes of the third. Philadelphia trailed 4-3 at the end of the first quarter but opened up an 8-5 halftime lead on two goals apiece by Matisz and Currier. Hall scored 1:47 into the third quarter to widen the lead to 9-5.
The tide turned Rochester’s way at that point, as the Knighthawks scored seven of the game’s next eight goals. Cody Jamieson put home the last two goals of the run to give Rochester a 12-10 advantage 3:05 into the fourth quarter.
But the Wings found a second wind, putting up the game’s next four goals. Currier completed his hat trick, and goals by Riorden and Vaughn Harris preceded Matisz’s third goal to give the Wings a 14-12 lead with 2:29 to play.
Rochester pulled their goaltender and scored two extra-attacker goals in the final minute, one from Kyle Jackson and the other from Jamieson, to force the overtime. After Trevor Baptiste won his 24th faceoff of the game to start the extra session, the Wings called a timeout. On the subsequent resumption of play, and with a delayed penalty coming, Riorden took a feed from Chris Cloutier and fired it home to set off the celebration.
Doug Buchan played the bulk of the game for the Wings, stopping 25 of 37 shots in 48:05 of action. He stepped aside late for Davide DiRuscio, who earned the win with three saves on five shots faced in 12:26 of action. Angus Goodleaf turned aside 48 of 63 shots in the loss.
The Wings took just one penalty in the game after leading the league in PIM headed into the contest, and they scored one power play goals and two others, including the game-winner, during delayed penalties.
The Wings will look for win #2 next weekend when they host the Colorado Mammoth. Single game tickets are on sale for Saturday at WingsLAX.com or by calling 215-952-LAX1. Fans can also follow the team @NLLWings to receive behind the scenes information as the team continues its home season at the Wells Fargo Center.
