The Rochester Knighthawks (6-7) stormed out to a 3-0 first-quarter lead and never looked back on their way to doubling up the Albany FireWolves (3-9) Friday at Segar & Sciortino Field at The Blue Cross Arena.
The win was Rochester’s third straight over Albany dating back to last season, improving the Knighthawks to 6-1 all-time against their intrastate rival. Additionally, the win snapped a season-long four-game skid at home and gave Rochester back-to-back wins for the first time all season.
Connor Fields (2+5) and Ryan Smith (4+3) each led the way offensively with seven points, with Fields factoring in on four of Rochester’s first five goals of the contest, scoring twice and notching the primary assist on the others. Smith, meanwhile, scored three of his four goals on the power-play as the Knighthawks scored a season-high five power-play goals. He now leads the NLL with 32 goals, including a league-best 11 power-play tallies.
Ryan Lanchbury (2+4) and Thomas McConvey (1+4) also had big nights for the Knighthawks, who picked up their first win at home since opening night. Rylan Hartley made his fourth straight start since returning to the lineup from an injury that sidelined him for the entire first half of the season. Hartley finished with 36 saves, including 10 in the opening quarter when he and the Knighthawks kept the FireWolves off the scoreboard.
Dyson Williams (3+1), the first overall pick in the 2023 NLL Entry Draft and top scoring rookie in the NLL this season, along with reigning NLL Rookie of the Year Alex Simmons (1+3) each totaled four points in the loss, which keeps Albany in the basement of the league’s unified standings. Doug Jamieson finished with 50 saves over 56 minutes of action.
FIRST QUARTER
Fields continued his pursuit of his third straight 100-point campaign by opening the scoring 3:01 into the contest, taking a feed from Waters to the right of the crease and beating Jaimeson through the legs to give the Knighthawks an early 1-0 lead. Medeiros also earned an assist on Fields’s 26th goal of the season.
Rochester quickly doubled its lead on the just minutes later, capitalizing on a 6-on-5 opportunity because of a delayed penalty to Albany. Seconds after Hartley was summoned to the bench for an extra attacker, Lanchbury’s initial shot was clanked off the right post. McConvey, fresh off a five-goal effort last week against Calgary, scooped up the rebound and sent a pass across the slot to Curtis Knight, who snuck a shot inside the left post before Jamieson was able to get across his crease.
Connor Fields got things started in Rochester with his 25th goal of the season! pic.twitter.com/byeZeo38oM
— NLL (@NLL) March 1, 2025
Late in the opening quarter, the Knighthawks drew consecutive penalties, including a five-minute major for an illegal crosscheck, and they made the FireWolves pay. On the ensuing extended power-play, Fields surveyed his options from just inside the restraining line before setting up Smith for the fourth-year forward’s team-leading 29th goal of the season, increasing Rochester’s lead to 3-0 to close out the frame.
Hartley was perfect in stopping all 10 shots he faced in the frame, which marked the first time this season the Knighthawks held the opposition off the scoreboard through a full quarter of play.
SECOND QUARTER
Albany was quick to stop Rochester’s three-goal run to begin the second, with Johansen beating Hartley 1:12 in. Jamieson, who led all NLL netminders in scoring with nine points last season, earned the lone assist on the goal to trim the deficit to 3-1.
The Knighthawks, however, were quick to reclaim their multi-goal lead, scoring twice in 17 seconds with Fields and Smith each notching their second goals of the game. Fields first converted on a long range shot through traffic that zipped past the left arm of Jamieson before Smith got the better of the FireWolves netminder on the very next shift to reach the 30-goal mark for the fourth straight year.
FIELDSY’S SECOND OF THE NIGHT PUTS US UP 4-1 pic.twitter.com/NiDhprX3IH
— Rochester Knighthawks (@RocKnighthawks) March 1, 2025
With Rochester holding a 5-1 advantage, tempers began to flare late in the frame, resulting in an Albany power-play for the final 1:12 of the half. After the FireWolves failed to convert on two Grade-chances, they finally broke through on their third opportunity of the man-advantage as Williams connected from atop the crease.
THIRD QUARTER
The Knighthawks set the tone early for the second half as McConvey hopped off the bench and fired a long range shot in from just inside the restraining line 27 seconds after the opening face-off. Lanchbury was awarded his third assist of the contest after conveniently spotting the second-year forward join the rush from behind the Albany goal.
Ryland Rees provided Rochester its largest lead of the night with an unassisted goal at 12:58. Following an Albany turnover deep in the Knighthawks zone, Rees corralled the loose ball before running the length of the floor and bouncing a shot past an unsuspecting Jamieson for just his third goal of the season and first since Jan. 11 against Halifax.
The FireWolves made it a 7-5 contest on the strength of a three-goal run, beginning with Firth cleaning up an Ethan Walker rebound from the right of the crease on the power-play.
Knight with the give-and-go and SCORES 🔥
Knighthawks up 8-5 pic.twitter.com/DRxiUB3QwM
— Rochester Knighthawks (@RocKnighthawks) March 1, 2025
Less than two minutes later, Colton Watkinson intercepted Smith’s pass intended for Fields and sped off on a breakaway opportunity, resulting in the Albany captain beating Hartley while uncontested. Williams then netted his second of the game to bring the FireWolves within a pair, scoring in transition a mere 13 seconds later.
Knight ended Albany’s three-goal run and subsequently restored Rochester’s three-goal lead in the process, finishing off a nifty give-and-go sequence. After feeding Lanchbury on the left side, Knight immediately darted towards the Albany net, eluding a FireWolves defenseman along the way. As the veteran forward approached the top of the crease, Knight accepted Lanchbury’s return pass in stride and spiked it through to put the Knighthawks up 8-5 with 5:03 remaining in the third quarter.
FOURTH QUARTER
Albany began the fourth much like they did the second, striking early with back-to-back power-play goals. Simmons, the NLL’s reigning Rookie of the Year, converted from in close on a diving effort and Williams completed the hat trick 24 seconds later.
From there, Rochester poured it on over the final 12:35 of regulation, going on a six-goal run and scoring four times on the power-play to put the game out of reach.
LET’S GO LANCH 👏
Back with a 2 goal lead. Up 9-7 pic.twitter.com/OnOXyOd1OD
— Rochester Knighthawks (@RocKnighthawks) March 1, 2025
Lanchbury scored both his goals a minute apart in succession before Albany’s Mike Byrne was whistled for his team’s second major penalty of the contest.
Rochester’s final four goals came on the man-advantage with Smith going back-to-back prior to rookies Graydon Hogg and Jake Piseno closing out the scoring in the final minutes of regulation.
UP NEXT
The Knighthawks hit the road again in search of their third straight win on Friday, March 7 when they visit the Las Vegas Desert Dogs for the only time this season. Game time is slated for a 10:30 p.m. start and will be carried live on Big 107.3 FM as well as ESPN+ and NLL+.
