The Philadelphia Wings were stymied by their old teammate Zach Higgins on Friday night, as the goaltender made 41 saves on 46 shots to backstop the Ottawa Black Bears to a 13-5 win at Wells Fargo Center.
The two teams battled through a low-event first 20 minutes, as the score was 4-3 Ottawa after Blaze Riorden scored 3:38 into the second quarter. However, that would be the last goal the Wings scored until 4:08 into the fourth quarter. In the meantime, Ottawa reeled off seven consecutive tallies to turn the 4-3 contest into an 11-3 lead.
Joe Resetarits ended that drought with that initial fourth-quarter goal, and Evan Messenger added another just under five minutes later. Phil Caputo and Brennan O’Neill had Philadelphia’s first-quarter goals. Mitch Jones was kept off the goal-scoring till but had four assists to lead the Wings in overall points.
Nick Rowlett returned from injury to go 10-for-22 on faceoffs in his first game of the season, while Mitch Armstrong also came off IR for his first appearance of the campaign. Nick Damude made 39 saves on 51 shots through just over 55 minutes before stepping aside for Deacan Knott who played the final 4:44 and allowed one goal.
The Wings now head to Georgia to start a home-and-home series with the Swarm next week. They’ll return to Wells Fargo Center for their final home game of the season on April 12.
