Treating last night's game as a playoff game of its own, the Philadelphia Wings kept their hopes for the actual postseason alive with a 16-14 win over the Toronto Rock at the Wachovia Center. Last night's home finale brought in the largest crowd of the season in Philly, 11,924.
The Wings got off to a fast start in this game, taking a 6-2 lead after the first quarter. Athan Iannucci was the star of the first 15 minutes with a hat trick. The second and third quarters did not exactly go the Wings way, however, as the Rock opened both quarters with a five goal run that in both case gave them the lead. The Wings rebounded in the second with late three goal run to take a 9-7 lead to halftime. After the Toronto run to start the third the Wings added three to tie the game at 12 heading to the fourth, where Mat Giles regained the lead for Philly.
The lead would be short lived as Toronto's Kasey Beirnes tied the match a little over a minute later with local laxer Bill McGlone giving the Rock its final lead of the evening with 8:50 to play in regulation. Former Rock Jon Harasym tied the game at 14 with 5:31 to go and the game looked like it was headed for an extra session. With 61 seconds left in the fourth Drew Westervelt scored his fourth goal of the night for what would prove to be the game winner. Kyle Sweeney added an empty netter with three seconds left and kept the Wings playoff hopes alive and dashed those of the visiting Rock.
For the Wings, the task ahead is very simple. Beat Rochester next week and they're in the playoffs.
