Wings Drop Close One in Toronto

Toronto, ON – The Philadelphia Wings nearly battled all the way back from a five-goal deficit, but couldn’t quite catch the Toronto Rock in a 12-11 setback on Saturday night at Scotiabank Arena. Jordan Hall led the Way for the Wings with a four-goal, five-point game while Matt Rambo had three goals and three assists and Kevin Crowley had two goals and four assists on the evening.

After the teams exchanged goals in the first seven minutes, Toronto opened things up with four consecutive goals and six of the next seven to take a 7-2 lead 6:50 into the second quarter. Hall scored two in a row to stem the tide, and it was a 7-4 game at halftime.

The Rock came out with two goals in the first five minutes of the third quarter, after which Hall scored twice in 17 seconds to pull the Wings back within three at 9-6. After Toronto picked up two more in the last 3:06 of the third quarter, Crowley buried a late tally to close the lead to 11-7 at the third quarter break.

Philadelphia then turned it on the fourth quarter, scoring three in a row over the first seven minutes – Rambo, Riorden and Josh Currier all tallied – to close the deficit to 11-10 with just under eight minutes to play. But Toronto notched its 12^th goal just over a minute later, and the Wings could only solve the Rock once in the final minutes on Rambo’s third goal with 3:45 remaining.

Doug Buchan absorbed the loss for the Wings, making 41 saves on 53 shots.