Wings Eliminated from Playoff Contention with Loss in Panther City

The Wings were eliminated from contention for the 2024 NLL Playoffs after falling 12-10 to the Panther City Lacrosse Club on Sunday Night. The Wings went into Sunday’s matchup missing two key members of their defense, Chad Tutton and Mike McCannell. Tutton was unavailable due to personal reasons, while McCannell was sidelined after a car accident on Friday.

The first half saw a lot of players make their way into penalty box, there were ten penalties called on the Wings and five called on Panther City. Panther City took advantage with five first half powerplay goals and took an 8-5 lead into the halftime break. In the second half, the Wings flew back into the lead by holding PCLC to just one goal through the first 25 minutes of the half. But three goals by PCLC in the final five minutes gave the home team the win.

Mitch Jones led the Wings in scoring with 5 points (2G, 3A), followed by Joe Resetarits (3G, 1A) and Holden Cattoni (1A, 4A). Ben McIntosh(2G, 1A), Taite Cattoni(3A), and Sam LeClair(3A) all had three points, and Blaze Riorden contributed 2 goals. Scott Dominey also got on the scoresheet with an assist. Zach Higgins made 54 saves in the loss. Panther City was 6 for 10 on the powerplay and the Wings were 2 for 4.

The Wings are just playing for pride and draft location now, and the most important game left on the schedule is next Friday in Denver as the Wings take on the Mammoth. The Wings own the Mammoth’s first round pick this summer, and currently have one more loss than Colorado in the standings. If the Wings can win their remaining two games and the Mammoth lose 2 out of their final 3 games, the Wings will likely have the first or second overall pick in the draft this summer.