With five games remaining in a very tight race for the playoffs in the National Lacrosse League's Eastern Conference it's safe to say Saturday's matchup with the Colorado Mammoth was an unofficial playoff game for the Philadelphia Wings. In this first test, the Wings passed with flying colors as they used a solid effort from start to finish to pull out a 17-13 win over the Mammoth in front of a season high crowd of 11,876 at the Wachovia Center.
Unlike the last two games, the Wings actually got on the board in the first quarter, opening a 2-0 lead on scores from Merrick Thomson and Mat Giles. Colorado would tie the game at two before Thomson's second of the night briefly regained the lead. Again the Mammoth would get a pair of goals to go ahead before the Wings tied the game on a shorthanded goal by Kyle Sweeney to end the first quarter 4-4. The goal by Sweeney was the first of four shorthanded goals the Wings would score on the night.
Chris Gill gave the Mammoth their final lead of the night just 31 seconds into the second quarter. Philadelphia would then score the game's next five goals to take a 9-5 lead early in the third. After the teams traded scores to make the game 11-7, the Wings would have their one real lull in the game, allwoing Colorado to score the next three goals, making it an 11-10 nailbiter with 8:19 remaining to play. In the past the Wings might have found a way to deliver the game to their opponents but that would not happen this evening. Goals by Thomson, Kyle Wailes, Drew Westervelt and Athan Iannucci in a two minute, seven second stretch would give the Wings a comfortable 15-10 lead.
The excitement did not end there.
After the Mammoth's Jed Prossner scored on a power play to get Colorado within four, Mammoth coach Bob McMahon opted to pull goalie Andrew Leyshon for an extra attacker. And for a second straight year a Wings goaltender would score an empty net goal, this time being Brandon Miller. Geoff Snider would end the night early for Leyshon with his second goal of the night with 66 seconds left to play. The Mammoth would score twice in the game's final half minute but the night, and the victory, would belong to the Wings.
Snider played in his first game since suffering a fractured windpipe in Edmonton on February 27 and looked very sharp in the lineup. Snider would win 25 of 30 faceoffs and played his usual physical style. The points leaders tonight for the Wings were Mat Giles (1G, 6A) and Athan Iannucci (4G, 3A) while Merrick Thomson (3G, 2A) and Kyle Wailes (2G, 3A) had big nights as well. In addition to his goal, Brandon Miller also made 37 saves.
With Rochester defeating Boston and Toronto losing in Edmonton, the Wings (5-7) find themselves a half game behind the resurgent Knighthawks (5-6) and a half game ahead of the Rock (5-8). With games against both of those teams, along with next weekend's home and home with the New York Titans (7-5), the Wings are clearly in charge of their own destiny. Winning out not only assures the Wings of a winning record, but would also give them three key tiebreakers in a race that will most likely go down to the season's final weekend. Tonight's efforts will need to continue to assure Philadelphia of a second straight trip to the postseason. Next stop will be Saturday in Newark, NJ.
