Momentum is a funny thing. For just over 21 and a half minutes, the Philadelphia Wings had everything going for them against the New York Titans Sunday night. An 8-3 lead against a team that not only had to travel the night before, but had lost their game in Boston in the most heartbreaking way possible, giving up the tying and winning goals in the game's final 10 seconds. Then Titans coach Ed Comeau made a simple goalie switch, pulling starter Matt Vinc and putting in former Wing Erik Miller for his first game action of 2009. And Miller responded as he has done a few other times in his career against the team that drafted him. Miller was able to stop the Wings while the New York offense got warmed up, the end result being a 15-12 Titans win at a near empty Prudential Center (the attendance was "generously" announced at 4,231).
The Wings were looking for a weekend sweep following Friday night's hard earned win over the defending champion Buffalo Bandits. Merrick Thomson scored a first quarter hat trick, goals two and three breaking a 2-2 tie and helping the Wings to a 5-2 lead after the quarter. Casey Powell's second tally of the night made it a 5-3 game before the Wings chased Vinc to the sidelines with goals from Thomson (#4 on the night), Drew Westervelt and Kyle Sweeney. Seeing their #1 keeper benched woke up the Titans as they would go on a seven goal run that would finally be broken (on Merrick Thomson's fifth goal of the night) after the Wings replaced their starter Rob Blasdell, who ended up allowing 10 goals in almost 41 minutes of work. Thomson's goal cut the New York lead to 10-9 entering the final stanza but the Wings, despite being the rested team, looked more like the team that had played the night before as the Titans would outscore the Wings 5-3 in the fourth, effectively nailing down the win on a shorthanded score by Pat Maddalena with 1:23 to play.
For Erik Miller, there wasn't anything very special about beating the Wings. Miller felt he was doing what a backup goalie should do.
"It's your job on the bench. I made the first save and that's what you try to do when you go in," Miller said. "Vino (Matt Vinc) played a tough game last night and we had to travel too. He's the man, he's a great goalie, just had a little bit of a shaky start. Just glad I was able to help out."
For the Wings, they now face a huge game on Friday when they host the Boston Blazers. With pretty much everyone in competiton for the four playoff spots in the East, Philly can't afford too many more losses if they want to see the postseason for a second straight year.
