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SCORING SUMMARY |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
OT |
FINAL |
 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
— |
4 |
 |
1 |
5 |
2 |
4 |
— |
12 |
(Philadelphia, PA) – A night after celebrating the franchise’s historic first win, the Rochester Knighthawks (1-5) were unable to duplicate the effort Sunday night at Wells Fargo Center, where the Philadelphia Wings (4-2) scored seven power-play goals on their way to a 12-4 win in the weekend finale between the two teams.
GAME SUMMARY
As has been the case all season, Holden Cattoni led the Knighthawks with a four-point night (1+3) and once again opened the scoring for Rochester with his seventh goal in just the last three contests. Shawn Evans also notched a multi-point effort with a goal and an assist that puts him just three assists away from tying former teammate John Grant Jr. for fifth all-time in NLL history. Curtis Knight (1+0) continued his success from the night prior by adding another goal to his season total, while Phil Caputo (1+1) found the back of the net for the sixth consecutive game. Steve Fryer (0-2) made the start in the crease making 45 saves on the 57 shots he faced. In the fourth quarter, rookie Rylan Hartley made his season debut, totaling 4:45 on the floor while turning aside all three shots he faced.
Brett Hickey (4+0) led the scoring for the Wings, tallying four goals on the night and notching a hat trick in the third quarter alone. Kiel Matisz (3+2) racked up five points, with his final goal coming on a penalty shot in the fourth quarter. Cory Vitarelli (2+2), a former Knighthawk in the previous organization, was the final Philadelphia player with a multi-goal effort, adding two assists during his performance. Both Trevor Baptiste (1+1) and Josh Currier (1+0) contributed to the scoresheet with a goal apiece. Zach Higgins (4-2) made his sixth start of the season in the net for the Wings, picking up his fourth win of the year while stopping 37 shots that he faced.
WATCH: GAME HIGHLIGHTS
What began as an otherwise relatively quiet matchup quickly escalated into one more physical in nature as the two teams, who were each playing their second games in as many nights, combined for 108 penalty minutes over the final three quarters, including 74 in the final frame alone.
Penalty trouble plagued the Knighthawks for much of the contest and the Wings were there to capitalize, scoring on seven of their 12 man-advantage opportunities, including four that came during a 9-0 run for Philadelphia that began at the 10:03 mark of the second quarter and ended 4:14 into the fourth.
Hickey bookended the run and added another while Vitarelli and Matisz each scored twice during the scoring frenzy.
Following a one-goal first quarter between both clubs, Cattoni would get the Knighthawks on the board just 2:53 into the second stanza to even the contest at 1-1. After 18 shots prior to the first goal for Rochester, a pass from Evans allowed Cattoni to take an overhand shot that slipped through the right side of Higgins for the forward’s 10th goal of the season.
Philadelphia would come back to take the lead less than a minute later on a goal from Matisz before pulling ahead by two on Crowley’s first of the night.
Evans then edged himself one goal closer to his 450th career goal by wiring a lower-corner shot past Higgins on the power-play to make it a 3-2 game. It would be as close as Rochester would get, however, as the Wings would then go on to score three in a row to close out the second quarter with a 6-2 advantage.
After the half, the third frame was similar to that of the first as Philadelphia held the Knighthawks scoreless for the second time only to score six more unanswered goals to put the game out of reach.
The Knighthawks found some life in the fourth and were able to get back on the board for the first time since the second quarter. Knight notched his ninth of the year by beating the Philadelphia netminder from down low with assists from Cattoni and Caputo.
Hickey added his fourth of the night at 8:05 to make it 12-3 before Caputo went on to score the final goal of the contest during a short-handed effort.
The Knighthawks and Buffalo Bandits revive one of the fiercest rivalries in the NLL on Friday, Jan. 31 when the North Division foes face-off at KeyBank Center in downtown Buffalo. The 7:30 p.m. matchup will be the first of three meetings between the two teams this season and will be carried live on 107.3 FM The Bull as well as B/R Live. Fans can stay up to date all season long with the latest Knighthawks news, stories and notes at www.rochesterknighthawks.com.
Goal Scorers
ROC: C. Knight (1), S. Evans (1), P. Caputo (1), H. Cattoni (1)
PHI: T. Baptiste (1), B. Hickey (4), K. Crowley (2), C. Vitarelli (2), J. Currier (1), K. Matisz (2)
Goaltenders
ROC: S. Fryer – 45/57 (L)| R. Hartley – 3/3 (ND)
PHI: Z. Higgins – 37/41 (W)
Shots
ROC: 41
PHI: 60
Special Teams
ROC: PP (2/4) | PK (5/12)
PHI: PP (7/12) | PK (2/4)
Three Stars
1. B. Hickey (PHI)
2. T. Baptiste (PHI)
3. Z. Higgins (PHI)
