Joe Resetarits turned in the second-best game of his 11-plus year NLL career on Friday night, posting four goals and nine assists to lead the Philadelphia Wings to a 15-9 road victory over the Las Vegas Desert Dogs. Resetarits had a hand in 13 of the Wings’ 15 goals on the evening as they swept the home-and-home series with the Desert Dogs and improved to a 2-1 record on the young season.
Resetarits got things going from the very beginning, picking up a goal and two assists in the first 6:07 of the game as the Wings sprinted out to a 3-0 lead. Las Vegas did most of its damage in the first 16 minutes of the game – the Desert Dogs answered the 3-0 start with a pair of goals, and after Resetarits picked up his second with 1:14 left in the opening frame, Las Vegas posted the next three goals to take a 5-4 lead.
That ended up being the only time the Wings trailed, as they outscored Las Vegas 11-4 the rest of the way. Resetarits ended the Desert Dog run when he completed his hat trick 3:04 into the second quarter. He went on to provide assists on two of the next three goals as the Wings completed the first half on a 4-0 run to take an 8-5 lead at the break; it wasn’t until goal #8, with 3:27 left in the second quarter, that Philadelphia recorded a tally that Resetarits wasn’t involved in.
After trading goals 1:28 apart in the midst of the third quarter, the Wings went on another four-goal run that opened up the lead to 13-7 with 7:40 to play. The teams alternated another two goals apiece from there.
The only other goal Resetarits didn’t factor into was the last goal of the game; he played a role in the other six of the Wings’ seven second-half goals that pushed the game out of reach for good. The 13 points falls one short of his career high of 14 set on February 24, 2018 for the original Rochester franchise against Buffalo. It’s his second-highest single-game total, eclipsing two 11-point games with Albany during the 2022 season. Resetarits now has nine goals and 19 assists for 28 points in the first three games of the season, which is the best three-game start of his career by a full nine points over the 19 he had to start the 2018 season.
Mitch Jones also got going early, assisting on the first two goals en route to a one-goal, six-assist evening. Holden Cattoni had a hat trick and two assists for a five-point game. Sam LeClair, Phil Caputo and Brennan O’Neill each had two-point games; LeClair and O’Neill also each contributed two assists for four-point games, while Caputo had one assist. Blaze Riorden had the other goal for Philadelphia.
Nick Damude settled down after that first quarter, only allowing four Las Vegas goals over the final 44 minutes of the contest. He took the win with 34 saves as the Wings allowed just 43 shots, which is just three more than the Wings franchise record for fewest shots on goal allowed in a game at 40.
The Wings will be back in action on Saturday, December 28 when they visit the Saskatchewan Rush at 8:00. The next home game is Saturday, January 11 at 1:00 vs. Calgary, with tickets available at WingsLAX.com.
