The Wings Come Up Short in Halifax

The Halifax Thunderbirds outscored the Philadelphia Wings 7-2 in the fourth quarter to sprint to a 13-10 victory on Saturday night in Halifax.

The teams played a relatively stingy first half that saw Halifax take a 3-1 lead over the game’s first 11 minutes, but the Wings scored three of the game’s next four goals to tie affairs at 4-4. One additional goal gave Halifax a 5-4 halftime lead, but the Wings then outscored the Thunderbirds 4-1 in the third period and led 8-6 after Mitch Jones completed his hat trick with just under five mutes left in the third.

But Halifax started the fourth quarter on a 4-0 run. The Thunderbirds received a five-minute power play on a major against

Philadelphia, with the fourth goal of that run coming early in that power play.  But the Wings clawed back with two shorthanded goals to make it a 10-10 contest with just under four minutes to play.

However, the man-advantage continued to benefit Halifax, which got a second goal right before the major penalty ended. The Thunderbirds then added a PPG on a subsequent Wings minor to make it 12-10, and eventually added a late empty-netter.

Mitch Jones paced the Wings with a hat trick plus three assists for a six-point night. Mike McCannell, who only had two goals in his 40-game NLL career before Saturday, scored two goals in the contest. Joe Resetarits, Blaze Riorden, Michael Sowers, Phil Caputo and Liam Patten each tallied one goal apiece.

The Wings will look to get back in the win column next Saturday night when they visit the Albany Firewolves at 7:00 PM.