Last night at the Wachovia Center, the Philadelphia Wings had to be happy that music is played at ear-splitting levels during the game. After all it helped to drown out the boos that were serenading from the 9,006 in attendance on Friday the 13th. The Wings certainly put on a horror performance, one of the worst games in franchise history. When the smoke cleared, the expansion Boston Blazers had walked away with an 8-4 victory and a season sweep of the Wings.
The 4 goals by the Wings tied a franchise record for fewest goals in a regular season game (last done in 1994 against the New York Saints at Nassau Coliseum) and the 12 combined were the fewest in Wings history (previous was 13 done three times, most recently in 2001 against Albany in a 9-4 Wings victory). And for a while it appeared they might tie or break the league record for fewest goals in ANY game, the two they scored in a 1999 playoff game at Toronto, as well as the league record for fewest combined goals (11 in 2001 when Toronto beat Albany 7-4). Obviously frustrated was Wings coach Dave Huntley.
“It wasn’t our best stuff, it just wasn’t there,” Huntley said. “I thought we practiced well on Thursday, then to go out there and do that. I know the guys are trying but at some point we have to make plays.”
Making plays was tough all night for the Wings who, again, seemed to have a lot of trouble with passing and catching and just holding on to the ball. Also troubling were the loose ball numbers, where Boston out worked them and their record in challenges of goals and goalie equipment. The Wings had the officials check the equipment of Blazers goalie Anthony Cosmo, when it was found to be legal the Wings were slapped with a two minute delay of game call. Cosmo was diplomatic afterwards.
“It’s a momentum thing,” Cosmo said. “They were trying to get some momentum, especially being down 4-1.”
As in the first two meetings, the Blazers jumped out to a big early lead, 4-0 this time before the Wings could get on the board. Much like the game in Boston, the Blazers would never trail but unlike the other matches, the Wings never came close to threatening. After the Blazers made it a 6-1 game 4:58 into the second, the teams would not score again until Boston scored 4:27 into the fourth. A combination of poor shooting and tough defense made for one of the easier nights that Cosmo would ever have in net.
“Our defense did a great job of keeping these guys to the outside and reducing the shots,” Cosmo said. “That team’s an outside shooting team and our defense did a great job of forcing them to make uncharacteristic shots or not shoot at all.”
Also his usual thorn in the Wings side was the Blazers Dan Dawson. While not as prolific as he had been in his last few games against Philadelphia, Dawson did manage to tally a pair of goals and three assists. And he has been impressed with how his new team has done so far this season.
“Things are rolling for us right now,” Dawson said. “We’re an expansion team and we’re not going to use that as a crutch this year. We’re looking to get better every game.”
Cosmo echoed his teammate’s opinion.
“Our guys are nice and young and with youth comes tenacity,” Cosmo said. “We have nothing to prove, we don’t have any expectations. Part of that is to go out and try our best and hopefully we win.”
As for the Wings, they need to start getting better right now. At 2-5 they are still well in the hunt for the postseason but more games like this one, especially as the schedule is not getting easier, will put that goal further in the rearview mirror.
