The Philadelphia Wings play a pair of back-to-back games this weekend and came up just short of winning game one. The Wings traveled up to Connecticut to take on the first-place New England Black Wolves. Matt Rambo put together a hattrick, and stud goaltender Zach Higgins made 47 saves in an even matchup. However, the Wings came up just short in overtime, after a questionable goal by New England won the game for them, 8-7.
Now, tonight will be the latter half of this two-game weekend for Philly. The Wings return to Wells Fargo Center to take on the Rochester Knighthawks. Since it is a home game, you can catch the game at 7 PM on NBC Sports Philadelphia.
Know Your Enemy:
Rochester Knighthawks
For starters, Rochester just pulled off their first win of the season last night, rallying to take down the defending champion Calgary Roughnecks, 13-12. They will be coming into Philly with momentum, but last night was an anomaly in their season thus far.
The Knighthawks have had a lackluster season, to say the least. In five games so far this season, the Knighthawks have a mere 234 shots on goal and only 52 goals for. To put that into perspective, the Wings have played one less game, where they have a total of 46 more shots and two more goals for.
Rochester’s lack of offense may come from their inability to win faceoffs this season, only winning a smidge under 47% of draws. Trevor Baptiste should have a field day tonight, as he and the Wings have won 74% of their draws this season.
Holden Cattoni leads the charge for the Knighthawks. His 9 goals and 17 assists combine for his team-leading 26 points. Goaltender Craig Wende has stopped 151 shots this season as well. His 13.56 goals-against average should allow the Wings to feast Sunday night.
Prediction
Rochester is a far inferior team to Philadelphia. In nearly every aspect, the Wings, on paper, are much better than the Knighthawks. The fact that the Wings competed so closely with top-seeded New England showed that Philly is the real deal this season. Contrast that with a 1-4 Rochester team, and this should be a much easier game than last night for Philly.
Chalk up a 16-11 win for the good guys to wrap up the weekend.
Mandatory Credit – Alex McIntyre
