Wings Win in their Home Opener Against Vegas

Four different Wings players recorded hat tricks as the Wings tied their franchise record for goals in a game in a 19-10 win over the Las Vegas Desert Dogs. The newest Wing, Brennan O’Neill, and the longest-tenured, captain Blaze Riorden, each posted four goals while Joe Resetarits and Mitch Jones added three apiece in the victory, which was anchored at the other end by an outstanding performance from Nick Damude and the entire Wings defense.

The teams were neck-and-neck through the first quarter, with the Wings pulling ahead three times only to see Las Vegas equalize three times. The Desert Dogs scored with 1.8 seconds left in the first quarter to make it a 4-4 game after 15 minutes.

After that goal, Las Vegas didn’t score for nearly 25 minutes, as the Wings defense often thwarted possessions and Damude stopped anything that did get through. The Wings went on a 7-0 run during this period, which spanned the entire second quarter and the first 5:54 of the third, and turned that 4-4 game into an 11-4 Philadelphia advantage.

Vegas scored the next two goals, but the Wings then tossed in three in a row during the third quarter and did so again later in the fourth as the game proceeded to its eventual 19-10 conclusion.

O’Neill clearly found his comfort level after halftime – he had no shots on goal and one assist in the first two quarters, but then scored four times on five shots in the second half. Riorden also completed his night with three second-half goals, while Resetarits scored two of his goals in the first half and Jones completed his entire hat trick before halftime. Phil Caputo and Sam LeClair contributed two goals each.

Resetarits had eight assists to go along with his hat trick for an 11-point night, while Holden Cattoni had a goal and nine assists for a 10-point evening and Mitch Jones chipped in five helpers for his second consecutive eight-point game.

Nathan Fehr made his NLL debut by handling faceoff duties and had a great start, going 17-for-32. Damude ended up with 47 saves in his first win as a Wing.

The 19 goals tied a franchise record the Wings had set twice before, most recently on March 4, 2023 vs. New York. They also scored 19 in the final game of their inaugural season on April 20, 2019 at Georgia.  The 34 goals the Wings have scored in the last two games is the highest consecutive-game goal total in franchise history.

These two clubs will get together again in just six days time on the other side of the country, squaring off on Friday, December 20 at 10:30 pm in Nevada.