The Philadelphia Wings were the latest team to run into the wall that has been Georgia goaltender Brett Dobson this season, as the league’s leading goaltender denied 39 of the 45 bids Philadelphia sent his way in an 11-6 Georgia victory at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Friday night.
The game was a stingy affair especially through the first three quarters. Dobson and Wings goaltender Nick Damude went blow-for-blow for the most part through the first quarter, with Georgia getting the frame’s only two goals both from rookie Nolan Byrne. But it was two goals in 21 seconds at the start of the second quarter, from Lyle Thompson and Jordan Macintosh, that made it a 4-0 game and would prove to put the Swarm ahead enough to keep the Wings at arm’s length the rest of the evening.
From there, the teams simply exchanged tallies for the next two quarters. Philadelphia got two back, from Brennan O’Neill and Sam LeClair, and then it was goal-for-goal through the first minute of the fourth quarter. It was 7-5 Georgia when the Swarm pulled away by scoring four of the game’s final five goals, including an empty-netter with three minutes left.
O’Neill led the Wings in scoring with a goal and three assists for a four-point night, while Michael Sowers had a goal and two assists before leaving in the fourth quarter with an injury. Eric Fannell had two goals along with an assist, while Phil Caputo chipped in a tally.
The Wings gathered 63 loose ball pickups on the night, with Liam Patten and Scott Dominey accounting for 11 and 10, respectively. Bo Columbus had the best faceoff night of his young career, winning 14 of 21 draws. Damude finished the evening with 41 saves on 51 shots faced.
The Wings will get another crack at Dobson and the Swarm tomorrow night as the two teams play the back half a back-to-back, home-and-home set in Georgia beginning at 7:30. The Wings return home next Sunday, March 8 to host Oshawa at 3 PM.
