TONIGHT’S GAME OVERVIEW
The Rochester Knighthawks (3-6) officially reach the midway point of the regular season tonight as they embark on a season-long three-game road swing against the red-hot Philadelphia Wings (5-2) at Wells Fargo Center. The 8:00 p.m. matchup will be the lone meeting of the season between the two teams and will be carried live on Big 107.3 FM as well as ESPN+ and NLL+. The contest will also be available to viewers on NLL+, a free direct-to-consumer streaming platform which provides instant global access to all 126 live regular-season games and every playoff matchup as well as increased access to highlights, full game replays and exclusive league content.
HOW THE TEAMS MATCHUP
For the second straight year, the Knighthawks and Wings are slated to meet only once during the season with Rochester making its first trip back to Philadelphia since April 2, 2023. After dropping the first six meetings between the two teams, the Knighthawks finally secured their first-ever win over the Wings in last year’s regular-season finale behind a record-setting performance from Connor Fields. Facing a must-win situation to clinch the NLL’s final playoff spot, Rochester stormed out to a 5-0 lead and never looked back on its way to a dominating 12-3 rout, marking the team’s most lopsided victory in franchise history. The win locked up a playoff spot for the second straight year for the Knighthawks, who defied the odds by overcoming a slim 3.3 percent chance of advancing to the postseason. Fields set the single-game franchise record for goals with seven, including all four in the second quarter, and finished with 21 shots on his way to setting the NLL’s new single-season record for shots (267). The win also snapped the longest losing streak against any single opponent dating back to Rochester’s inaugural campaign. It’s no secret, however, that the all-time series has historically favored the Wings, who swept the three-game season series in 2022-23 and maintain an unblemished 3-0 record at home against Rochester, outscoring the Knighthawks by a 44-27 margin. While Rochester has seemed to struggle at home through the first half of the season, the opposite can be said for Philadelphia, which has found comfort within the friendly confines of Wells Fargo Center. The Wings are one of three teams, joining Buffalo and Vancouver, that have yet to be defeated at home, where they have outscored the opposition 46-34 through their first three home contests. Saturday’s matchup will feature the NLL’s top four point-getters in Philadelphia’s Joe Resetarits and Mitch Jones and Rochester’s Connor Fields and Ryan Lanchbury, who collectively, enter the weekend as the only four players with 50 or more points on the season. Resetarits, a former Knighthawk in the previous organization, currently leads the NLL in scoring with 58 points while Jones remains at a close second with 57. Fields, who’s eyeing is third straight 100-point season, is three points back of Jones with 53 and Lanchbury’s 51 points rank fourth overall. Philadelphia has been one of the hottest teams as of late, winning four of its last five games since the turn of the new year.
LAST TIME OUT
The Knighthawks endured the agony of defeat for the second straight week at home by way of another heartbreaking loss, this time at the hands of the Colorado Mammoth, who escaped with an 11-10 win thanks to Zed Williams’ buzzer-beater in the final seconds of regulation. For the second time in as many weeks, Connor Fields topped all Rochester scorers with eight points (1+7), which included his 400th career NLL point. Ryan Lanchbury (2+4), Thomas McConvey (2+2), and Kyle Waters (2+0) each turned in a two-goal performance. It was Rochester’s first loss this season when leading after the third quarter.
COMING IN HUTCH
As has been the case all season, Knighthawks goaltender Riley Hutchcraft has continued to be a steady and reliable presence on the back end for Rochester. Hutchcraft, whose started all nine games and has played all but 51 minutes, remains the NLL’s leader in saves through the first half of the season. The veteran netminder has stopped 352 of the 445 shots he’s faced, good for a .791 save percentage that ranks sixth in the NLL among qualified goaltenders. Hutchcraft, who’s one of only three goaltenders with more than 300 saves this season, also ranks first in minutes played (489) and ninth with an 11.42 goals-against average. Dating back to last season, Hutchcraft has made 40-plus saves in his 12 of his last 24 starts. He also has two games of 50 or more saves over that same span, including in Week 1 of this season as well as a 52-save performance in the 18-12 win over Albany back on March 9, which remains a career-high for the seventh-year netminder.
AMERICAN MADE
In addition to tonight’s matchup featuring two of the league’s top three scoring teams in terms of goal production, it also pits arguably two of the elite American-born players ever to come through the National Lacrosse League in Philadelphia’s Joe Resetarits and Rochester’s Connor Fields. Coming into this weekend, Resetarits currently leads the NLL in scoring with 58 points through his first seven games and remains the all-time leading scorer among American-born players in NLL history with 808 career points. Resetarits, who played parts of five seasons (2015-2019) with the original Knighthawks franchise prior to its relocation to Halifax, became the first American player to record 100 points in a season in 2022 with Albany before duplicating the effort the following year in his first season with Philadelphia. Last year also saw Resetarits surpass Casey Powell, who’s also a former Knighthawk in the previous organization, as the highest scoring American-born player in league history. Following in his footsteps is Fields, who, like Resetarits, has reached the 100-point mark in back-to-back seasons and remains on pace to become just the first-ever American player in league history to hit the mark in three straight years. A two-time Second Team All-Pro selection, Fields’ 401 career points rank 12th-most all-time by American-born players and third behind only Resetarits and Toronto’s Tom Schreiber as the only active members on that list. Averaging just under six points per game this season, Fields could potentially move up into the top 10 American point-getters all-time, besting the 409 points set by Ryan Boyle.
SHOOTING GALLERY
The Knighthawks, who closed out the 2023-24 regular season leading the NLL in shots per game with 81.44 and were the only team that averaged more than 80 per contest, are again at the top of the league in terms of shooting efficiency in 2024-25. Through the first nine games this season, Rochester is averaging an NLL-best 81.67 shots per game while also allowing the third-most shots-against per game (78.00). Coming into this weekend, Rochester has outshot the opposition in 20 of its last 27 games going back to last season, including all but three on the road. The Knighthawks have also topped the 70-shot mark twice over that span, the most recent of which came in the season-opening win over Las Vegas back on Nov. 30 when they came within a shot of matching their single-game franchise record of 73. Collectively, the Knighthawks also own three of the NLL’s top six shooting forwards in Connor Fields, Ryan Smith and Ryan Lanchbury, who rank first, second and sixth in the NLL, respectively. Fields, who averaged nearly 15 shots per game last season on his way to establishing a new league record (267), is already on pace to duplicate the effort with an NLL-best 120 shots on goal through his first nine games game of the current season. Fields is also the only player to have more than 100 shots.
HOMECOMING FOR KNIGHTHAWKS DEFENSEMEN
Rochester’s first trip back to Philadelphia in nearly two years also serves as a homecoming of sorts for Knighthawks defensemen Ian Llord and Chad Tutton, who were teammates last season with the Wings. Llord spent a total of five seasons in the City of Brotherly Love, including one as a member of the original Wings franchise in 2007 after being drafted in the first round (fifth overall) of the 2006 NLL Entry Draft. A three-time NLL champion and a six-time Mann Cup winner, the 18-year pro also has the distinction of being the only player in league history to play for both the original and expansion-era franchises or both the Wings and Knighthawks organizations. Tutton, meanwhile, completed his second season with the Wings in 2023-24, recording four goals and 15 assists while appearing in 17 games. The Courtice, Ontario, native topped all Philadelphia defensemen in assists and points, respectively, while finishing second with 107 loose balls.
HASEN ON THE MOVE
Leading the Knighthawks into their fifth season of the expansion-era is an all-too-familiar face in head coach Mike Hasen, who recently surpassed Troy Cordingley for fifth all-time in career coaching wins (108). He’s also one game back of Ed Comeau for fourth all-time in career games coached (231). Last season, Hasen became just the sixth head coach in NLL history to reach 100 career wins, doing so by way of a 13-11 win over Vancouver on Dec. 23. One of the most decorated coaches in league history, Hasen is certainly no stranger to Rochester, having previously served as head coach of the former Knighthawks franchise from 2011 to 2019. In nine seasons behind the bench with the original Knighthawks, Hasen guided Rochester to an 81-75 regular season record while leading the team to six playoff appearances. Hasen’s most successful run at the helm of the Knighthawks came from 2012-14 when he made National Lacrosse League history by leading Rochester to an unprecedented three straight Champion’s Cups. He remains the only NLL bench boss to accomplish the feat. Hasen, who was named the NLL’s Coach of the Year in 2011 following his first season behind the bench, boasts a 27-48 record with the expansion-era Knighthawks, whom he’s led to back-to-back playoff appearances, as well as a 108-123 record all-time over his 14 combined seasons in Rochester.