Wings end home schedule passing quietly into the night

By Tom Hoffman

Less than 24 hours after seeing their playoff hopes dashed in Boston, the Philadelphia Wings came home to the Wells Fargo Center and delivered what was their typical home performance for 2011. Looking tired and if they'd rather be elsewhere, the Wings again could find very little on the offensive end and ended their home schedule with a 2-6 record following Sunday's 10-6 loss to the Rochester Knighthawks.

As both teams played Saturday night and had to travel to Philadelphia, play was sluggish in the first quarter. Only one goal was scored in the game's first 15 minutes and it gave the Wings their only lead of the day when Drew Westervelt tallied 10:37 into the stanza. Wings backup Kurtis Wagar, making his first start of the season, stopped all 12 Knighthawk shots in the first and kept Rochester off the board until Shawn Williams tied the game 6:09 into the second. At that point the Knighthawk offense arose from its slumber to score the game's next five goals before the Wings Max Seibald scored in the final minute of the half to make it a 5-2 game.

The second half didn't start any better when Mike Accursi and Craig Point extended the Rochester lead to 7-2. Then, much like the previous night in Boston, the Wings scored the next three goals to go into the last 15 minutes down just 7-5. By the time the Wings scored goal number six though, the Knighthawks had broken the game open on scores by Jordan Hall, Jarrett Davis and an empty netter by Chris Driscoll.

Westervelt scored a hat trick for the Wings, who missed Athan Iannucci for the third straight game. Ryan Boyle added a goal and three assists while Wagar made 34 saves in his Wings debut. With one game remaining next week against the Minnesota Swarm, the Wings will look to at least finish a game better than they did in 2010. In what was likely a more frustrating season that the 2010 debacle of 5-11, that is about as positive as it gets. What to expect in 2012 is anyone's guess.