Despite a strong defensive effort from the Rochester Knighthawks (3-11) Friday night, the Halifax Thunderbirds (9-5) would ultimately prevail on the strength of a six-goal second half to hand the Knighthawks an 11-7 loss in a back-and-forth affair between the Eastern Conference rivals at Scotiabank Centre.
Knighthawks veteran forwards Turner Evans (2+2) and Holden Cattoni (1+3) each posted four-point efforts to pace the offense while rookie Charlie Bertrand (1+2) turned in a three-point night with a goal and two assists. Ryan Smtih (1+0), Thomas Hoggarth (1+0) and Mitch Ogilvie (1+0) all tallied a goal apiece.
Goaltender Joel Watson (0-4) made his fourth-straight start in the crease for Rochester, making 33 in the losing effort.
WATCH: GAME HIGHLIGHTS
Halifax forward Austin Shanks (2+3) had a five-point effort with two goals and three assists on the night, while Clarke Petterson (1+3) and Dawson Theede (1+3) both tallied a goal and three assists each. Stephen Keogh (2+0) and Eric Fannell (2+1) both had two-goal efforts, Chris Boushy (1+2) turned in a three-point night and defensemen Graeme Hossack (1+0) and Colton Armstrong (1+0) both had a goal apiece.
Netminder Warren Hill (7-4) notched his seventh win his 13th appearance in goal for Halifax, stopping 44 of the 51 shots he faced over the course of the contest.
The defensive efforts by the clubs were strong from the start as it would take 10:35 to pass in the first quarter, and 13 combined shots between both the teams, before the ball would finally fall into the back of the net.
Charlie Bertrand Turner Evans
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Beautiful running goals tonight pic.twitter.com/c5lmUCpz9V— Rochester Knighthawks (@RocKnighthawks) April 1, 2022
As Knighthawks defenseman Matt Bennett was falling to the ground, he somehow managed to find Dan Coates, who was entering the neutral zone. Coates would find Ogilvie on the run right inside Rochester’s offensive territory. Ogilvie then found himself one-on-one with Hill and lasered a shot past the Halifax goaltender for his first pro goal to put Rochester up 1-0.
While the Knighthawks entered the second quarter with a one-goal lead, it would take just 1:13 into the frame for Halifax to tie it all up and begin a back-and-forth affair. Petterson was the first to strike for the Thunderbirds, before Boushy followed up 1:34 later to give Halifax 2-1 lead early in the quarter.
It wouldn’t be long before the Knighthawks would chip their way back, as Evans went back-to-back for Rochester, the second of which came shorthanded at 6:54.
A perfectly set up short handed goal 🚨 pic.twitter.com/YNQ4f4w3Wj
— Rochester Knighthawks (@RocKnighthawks) April 1, 2022
As Knight rolled across the top of the offensive zone, he’d send a pass off the left side boards to a waiting Evans. On the run, Evans would swoop a shot through two Halifax defenders to send the ball skipping over the hand of Hill for his first of two markers on the net.
Knighthawks defenseman Chris Willman took a holding the stick penalty 5:42 into the second frame, putting Rochester down a man for the next two minutes. However, the Knighthawks were able to tie things back up at three apiece despite being shorthanded.
Bertrand zipped out of the neutral zone and up the left side of the Knighthawks offensive zone where Evans would be centered in front of the Halifax net. As Bertrand sent a pass to Evans in front of the crease, Evans turned and sent a back-door shot into the net for his second goal of the game.
4️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ CAREER POINTS
With his assist on Turner Evans goal, Curtis Knight recorded his 400th career point!
Congrats, Curtis Knight 👏 pic.twitter.com/0Jr6osvVzV
— Rochester Knighthawks (@RocKnighthawks) April 1, 2022
The back-and-forth exchange of goals continued as the second quarter ticked away. Theede would give the Thunderbirds another one-goal lead before Smith tallied his 15th goal of the season on the power-play.
Halifax then tacked on a shorthanded marker before the quarter’s end to go into the half with a 5-4 lead over Rochester.
As the second half got underway, another wave of silence would hit the game until the back-and-forth affair continued.
An absolutely BEAUTIFUL first NLL goal for Mitch Ogilvie 👏pic.twitter.com/XwIhCLDezL
— Rochester Knighthawks (@RocKnighthawks) April 1, 2022
The Knighthawks would be the first to strike on another running effort by Bertrand, before another sequence of goals between the clubs. Hoggarth scored his 20th tally of the season, this time on the power-play, to get the Knighthawks within one goal heading into the final frame with the score at 7-6 in the Thunderbirds’ favor.
Just 18 seconds into the fourth quarter, the Thunderbirds would notch their first power-play goal of the evening to give them a two-goal lead before Keogh netted his 11th of the season for the club to give Halifax its first three-goal lead of the evening.
Cattoni then followed up for Rochester with his team-leading 25th tally of the season at the 2:56 mark to pull the Knighthawks back within two. Halifax then tacked on back-to-back insurance markers and held on in the final minutes to preserve the 11-7 win.
Rochester returns home next Saturday, April 9 to take on the Toronto Rock for the final time this season at Segar & Sciortino Field at The Blue Cross Arena. The Eastern Conference showdown gets underway at 7:00 p.m. and will be carried live on The Bull 107.3 FM as well as ESPN+. Fans can stay up to date all season long with the latest news, stories and notes at www.rochesterknighthawks.com.
