Offense fails Wings again

By Tom Hoffman

For the second straight game the Philadelphia Wings were betrayed by their offense, again being held to six goals and wasting another solid effort from the defense and goalie Brandon Miller. The Buffalo Bandits kept the Wings off the scoreboard for over 30 minutes and left the Wells Fargo Center with a 9-6 victory before a crowd of 7,764.

The Wings again scored the game's first goal when Drew Westervelt went across the crease to beat Bandits goalie Mike Thompson. After Buffalo racked up the game's next three goals, the Wings showed a little life in tying the game on scores by Max Seibald and Westervelt. This would end up as the Wings highlight of the evening as following Westervelt's game tying goal the Wings would not score again until the fourth quarter, a span of almost 34 minutes. The defense and Miller did their job, holding the Bandit offense to just two goals over the second and third quarters but entered the fourth trailing 5-3.

The Bandits would take advantage of a five minute major to Seibald laste in the third when Frank Resetarits scored just :32 into the final period. Athan Iannucci would snap the Wings scoreless streak but goals by Tracey Kelusky and John Tavares would give the Bandits an 8-4 cushion they would hold on to on the way to their first win of the 2011 season. After the Wings got within a pair at 8-6, Mark Steenhuis would ice the game with an empty net score.

While Coach John Tucker was generally pleased with the effort, his frustration with the team's offense was quite evident. The players seemed to be just as frustrated as well. The Wings will try to awaken their offense on the road when they visit Denver and the Colorado Mammoth next Saturday.