The Philadelphia Wings and Albany FireWolves went toe-to-toe

The Philadelphia Wings and Albany FireWolves went toe-to-toe with one another throughout Saturday’s game at Wells Fargo Center, but two runs early and late in the game gave Albany the distance they needed to take a 12-10 win.

After Albany opened the scoring 3:04 into the contest, the Wings took the next three to go up 3-1 late in the first quarter.  But Albany then started its 4-0 run that lasted until well into the second quarter, including a goal by Sam Firth with just 3.3 seconds left in the first; after that, nobody scored at all for nearly nine minutes, but it was then Albany that got two goals 21 seconds apart to take a 5-3 lead. Mitch de Snoo scored his first as a Wing to stop that run, but Albany got two more – one right before halftime and one right after – to grow their lead to 7-4.

The Wings could get no closer than one goal after that, although they did manage that twice. Third-quarter tallies from Sam LeClair and Phil Caputo made it 7-6, but that’s when Albany started its late run – the FireWolves scored the next three, including the third and fourth of the game for Alex Simmons, to open up their biggest lead of the contest at 10-6.

The Wings scored four of the next five, pulling within a goal when de Snoo bagged his second in the final minute to make it 11-10.  It was two empty netters – one earlier by Joe Nardella and the final one by Nick Chaykowsky – that formed the 12-10 score.

Joe Resetarits and Mitch Jones were part of the fourth-quarter run and kept their streak alive of scoring in every game this season. Resetarits added five assists for a six-point night, while Jones added four helpers. LeClair and de Snoo had a pair of goals each, while Chris Corbeil also scored in his first game with the Wings. Blaze Riorden and Mike McCannell contributed a goal apiece. Nick Damude went the distance in net, stopping 48 shots.

The Wings will look to stop their five-game slide next Saturday when they host the Colorado Mammoth at 1:00 at Wells Fargo Center.