On a night where Connor Fields set the franchise’s single season scoring record, the Rochester Knighthawks came up short in a back-and-forth defensive battle with the Toronto Rock, falling 9-8 to their Eastern Conference rival Saturday at FirstOntario Centre.
Both teams, which entered the contest sporting 8-2 records, went goal for goal up until the final minute of the third quarter when the Rock went on a four-goal run to ultimately pull away in the fourth en route to their eighth straight win.
With the loss, Rochester falls to 8-3 on the season despite splitting the season series with Toronto. All three losses for the Knighthawks this season have come on the road.
Fields turned in yet another impressive performance, factoring in on seven of Rochester’s eight goals while also finishing with a team-high 15 shots on goal. By scoring twice and adding five assists, Fields set the franchise’s single season scoring record with 66 points, surpassing the previous mark of 63 established by Holden Cattoni during the 2021-22 campaign.
Cattoni (2+1) also turned in a two-goal effort while Turner Evans (1+0), Ryan Smith (1+0), Thomas Hoggarth (1+1) and defenseman Brad Gillies (1+0) rounded out the scoring for Rochester. Curtis Knight (0+3) and Tyler Halls (0+1) each found the scoresheet as they added three and an assist, respectively.
Knighthawks netminder Rylan Hartley (8-3) made his 11th consecutive start between the pipes, stopping a season and career-high 56 shots in just his third loss of the year.
Rock forward Tom Schreiber (1+3) led all Toronto players with four points on one goal and three assists while Corey Small (2+1) and Dan Craig (2+1) both tallied three points on the night with two goals and one assist each. Zach Manns (1+0), Brandon Slade (1+0), Sheldon Burns (1+0), Phil Mazzuca (1+0) all scored one goal apiece.
Toronto goaltender Nick Rose (9-2) helped push the Rock’s win streak to eight straight games, allowing just eight goals while making 46 saves in the crease.
In the first half, both teams combined for just seven goals with four coming in the first quarter.
Holden Cattoni scored twice in a valiant effort from the @RocKnighthawks who fall to Toronto 9-8.
Cattoni Highlights 🥍🥍 pic.twitter.com/ahhPiyAD9Q
— NLL (@NLL) March 5, 2023
Gillies, the overtime hero from last week, picked up right where he left off from last weekend to open the scoring in transition for Rochester. The defenseman fired a shot right over the right shoulder of Rose on a fastbreak, giving him four goals over his last two games.
Craig knotted the score at 1-1, but Hoggarth restored Rochester’s lead just over a minute later from Fields and Knight.
Schreiber converted on the power-play at 5:03 to even the score prior to complete the scoring in the opening quarter.
With the score tied 2-2 entering the second quarter, the Knighthawks reeled off back-to-back goals courtesy of Evans and Cattoni, but Small would pull the Rock within one with 1:17 remaining as the Knighthawks went into halftime with a 4-3 lead.
Ok, Brad Gillies we see you 👀 pic.twitter.com/xw6jORlzZU
— Rochester Knighthawks (@RocKnighthawks) March 5, 2023
While the Rock would again even the matchup at 4-4 just 1:54 into the third quarter, the Knighthawks went on a three-goal run with Fields having a hand in each, setting the record with an assist on Smith’s power-play marker. It was his fifth assist of the night and team-leading 64th point of the season.
Fields then completed the scoring for the Knighthawks in the third with his first goal of the night before Small struck once again for the Rock before the quarter’s end to ignite a four-goal run for Toronto.
Toronto pulled away in the fourth, beginning with Manns beating Hartley just 24 seconds into the frame. Mazzuca and Craig fired off back-to-back goals in a span of 1:15 with Craig converting on a dunk-in attempt from behind the cage to give Toronto its first lead of the night.
Thomas Hoggarth drives to the net and scores a beauty 🤩 pic.twitter.com/B9ioHwJ1kY
— Rochester Knighthawks (@RocKnighthawks) March 5, 2023
Fields’ second of the night midway through the frame made it an 8-8 game until Slade restored the Rock’s lead for good with 5:27 remaining.
Rochester pressed to find the equalizer over the final five minutes of regulation, but Rose stood tall in the waning minutes to preserve the 9-8 win for Toronto.
The Knighthawks remain on the road on Sunday, Mar. 12 when they head south to meet the Georgia Swarm for the second of three meetings this season. The 4 p.m. face-off at Gas South Arena will be carried live on Big 107.3 FM as well as ESPN+.
Goal Scorers
ROC: C. Fields (1,2), H. Cattoni (1,2), B. Gilles (1), T. Hoggarth (1), T. Evans (1), R. Smith (1)
TOR: C. Small (1,2), D. Craig (1,2), Z. Manns (1), P. Mazzuca (1), T. Schreiber (1), B. Slade (1), S. Burns (1)
Goaltenders
ROC: R. Hartley – 56/65 (L)w
TOR: N. Rose– 46/54 (W)
Shots
ROC: 54
TOR: 65
Special Teams
ROC: PP (2/3) | PK (1/3)
TOR: PP (2/3) | PK (1/3)
