Connor Fields (3+7) and Ryan Smith (5+3) led the charge offensively as the Rochester Knighthawks opened the 2024-25 season with a 14-12 win over the Las Vegas Desert Dogs Saturday night at Segar and Sciortino Field at The Blue Cross Arena.
The win marks the fourth consecutive season-opener won by Rochester, with the team scoring 13 or more goals in each of the victories. It also marked the first win in franchise history against Las Vegas in their third all-time meeting.
Aside from Fields and Smith, Ryan Lanchbury (1+6), Thomas McConvey (2+3), Curtis Knight (1+2), Turner Evans (1+1), and Kyle Waters (1+0) each scored, while Dan Coates and Matt Gilray each registered assists in the win.
Riley Hutchcraft turned aside 50 of the 62 shots he faced for his first win of the season and seventh of his career. Landon Kells took the loss for Las Vegas after a 58-save performance. The Knighthawks fell one shot shy of tying their single-game record of 73 shots set last March in a game against Panther City.
Las Vegas began the game by jumping out to a 2-0 lead before the Knighthawks responded with a pair of their own before the first quarter came to a close.
Smith got the first goal of Rochester’s season by curling to the slot before ripping the shot over the shoulder of Kells 7:04 into the contest. Just 38 seconds later, Knight circled the left side of the attacking end before hovering atop the zone and blasting a shot past Kells to even the score. The goal marked Knight’s 500th professional point. The veteran forward, who is an alternate captain for a second straight year, is 16 goals from 200 for his career.
Rochester then took its first lead 26 seconds into the second quarter when Lanchbury pounced on a shot from the left side, gift-wrapped to him on a pass fed low from Smith on the power-play. The Knighthawks’ man-advantage went three-for-four on the night, with conversions from Waters and Smith later in the game.
The two sides combined for 10 goals in the second quarter. With Vegas up 7-6 late in the first half, Evans sat on the right side of the goal, converting a McConvey rebound to score on a buzzer-beater with 0.8 seconds remaining to tie the game at 7-7 heading into halftime.
🚨Turner Evans ties it at 7 with 0.4 left in the half🚨 pic.twitter.com/FnEqjB4sHZ
— NLL (@NLL) December 1, 2024
The Desert Dogs jumped on the board first with consecutive power-play goals in the third quarter, with Kyle Killen and Jack Hannah solving Hutchcraft to gain a 9-7 lead less than five minutes into the second half.
Rochester prevented Las Vegas from anything beyond a two-goal run, as McConvey sliced through the defense to get the ‘Hawks back within one with his second goal of the game 6:28 into the third. The goal began a four-goal run for Rochester, its best of the game, as Fields scored to tie it, then Smith netted his second and third goals of the night to close out the quarter with Rochester yielding an 11-10 lead.
Smith’s fourth of the night came 1:26 into the fourth to push Rochester back up by two, before Las Vegas’ Hannah and Killen scored back-to-back in under a minute to tie the game, 12-12. Hannah led the Desert Dogs with four goals and six points, with Jonathan Donville assisting on two of his goals as part of a six-assist night.
Fields broke the deadlock 7:34 into the fourth, netting his third of the night from an identical spot to his previous two, standing atop the zone from the center, before hammering a shot through Kells.
RYAN SMITH ARE YOU SERIOUS!?
Smith beats Kells with a ridiculous no-look, behind-the-back SNIPE to make it 10-9 Knighthawks.
👀#SCtop10 pic.twitter.com/luR4spiJMe
— NLL (@NLL) December 1, 2024
Smith’s fifth goal came 58 seconds after Fields, digging the ball through a jam of Desert Dogs players in front of the net, before shoveling it free and firing through for the 14-12 final.
The win improved the Knighthawks to 4-1 all-time in season-opening games and 3-2 in home openers dating back to their inaugural season.
The Knighthawks remain at home on Saturday, Dec. 7 when they host the two-time defending NLL champion Buffalo Bandits in an intrastate showdown at Segar & Sciortino Field at The Blue Cross Arena. The 7:00 p.m. contest will be the first of two scheduled meetings between the two teams this season and will be carried live on Big 107.3 FM as well as ESPN + and NLL+.
