The Philadelphia Wings (5-7) will look to make some noise in their quest for a spot in the National Lacrosse League postseason when they face the New York Titans (7-5) in a home and home weekend set. Saturday night's faceoff will be at 7:30 at Newark's Prudential Center while Sunday's game will be at 2:30 at the Wachovia Center. Both games can be seen for free on NLL.com.
History
The Wings and Titans have split the six games played with Philadelphia winning the first three and New York the last three, including their first meeting this season. Despite Merrick Thomson's five goal night, the Wings could not hold an early lead and dropped a 15-12 decision February 8th in Newark. On the road the Wings are 1-2 against the Titans (1-0 at Nassau Coliseum, 0-1 at Sovereign Bank Arena, 0-1 at Prudential Center) while going 2-1 in Philadelphia.
Last Game
The Wings put forth their highest offensive output of the 2009 season in defeating the Colorado Mammoth 17-13 last Saturday at the Wachovia Center. Athan Iannucci paced the Wings with four goals while Mat Giles added six assists. Brandon Miller made 37 saves while also scoring an empty net goal for Philadelphia. New York defeated the Buffalo Bandits 11-9 Saturday night at Buffalo's HSBC Arena.
Stats and Stuff
Several Wings are approaching career highs in point totals. Merrick Thomson (30-19-49) has already eclipsed his goal total from last season (26) and needs seven more points to top his point total from his rookie season of a year ago. Mat Giles (17-36-53) needs eight points to set a new career high (60 points with Ottawa in 2003) while having already set a career high in assists (previously 30 in 2007 with Chicago). Kyle Wailes (10-26-36) needs two points for a new career best while having already topped his assist total from his first season in 2007 (21).
Quotes
Wings Coach Dave Huntley on the playoff push: "We play all three teams (New York, Toronto and Rochester) we're competing for a playoff spot with. We totally control our destiny, if we win all those games we're in. If we stumble then we'll need some help. I like the way our team is playing right now."
Next Game
The Wings will conclude the home portion of their 2009 schedule when they host the Toronto Rock on April 11th.
