Wings comeback falls short against Georgia

The Philadelphia Wings had multiple opportunities for last-second heroics Saturday night, but could not get the one goal needed to tie the game past Georgia goaltender Brett Dobson in an eventual 13-12 setback.

Entering the contest, the teams had played six consecutive games against one another dating back to January of 2020 that were decided by one goal apiece, and this contest took a similar script from the very beginning. A three-goal lead the Wings held midway through the second quarter was the largest margin at any point of the night. It came when the Wings went on a 3-0 run with the game knotted at 3-3.

However, Georgia score the next four – one in the second quarter and the first three of the third quarter, as they outscored the Wings 6-2 in the third frame. They took their first lead at 7-6 and eventually led 10-8 at the end of the third quarter.

That was a deficit the Wings quickly erased with a pair of goals from Blaze Riorden less than two inutes apart.  But Georgia answered with another pair to restore the two-goal advantage and the Wings couldn’t get closer than a goal the rest of the way. After Zack Miller completed a hat trick with 4:36 to play that made it 13-11, Riorden’s fourth of the game made it 13-12. But Dobons denied multiple opportunities after that, including one in the final seconds from Chad Tutton followed immediately by a Mitch Jones shot that hit the crossbar and stayed out.

The Wings had several outstanding individual efforts, including nine-point games for both Resetarits and Riorden, who each had four goals and five assists. Jones had a goal and seven assists for eight points, while Tutton, Sam LeClair and Taite Cattoni each had a goal. Zach Higgins made 46 saves, and Trevor Baptiste went 24-for-29 on faceoffs.

The Wings wrap up their weekend in Rochester on Sunday afternoon in a 3pm start.