Photo via Philadelphia Wings
Down a goal with about three minutes to play, the Philadelphia Wings scored four times in the span of 144 seconds to defeat the Calgary Roughnecks on Saturday at the Wells Fargo Center.
The victory gives the Wings a 4-1 record, their best start to a season since 2008.
Your game recap after another home win 🔥#WingsWin #WingsLax #PHIvsCAL pic.twitter.com/chXNg4ejPG
As two-legged and four-legged fans looked on, the Wings and Roughnecks traded jabs throughout the matchup. With 3:11 remaining in the fourth quarter, neither team had distanced itself by more than two goals at any point in the game. But Calgary was clinging to a 10-9 lead.
Then the Wings somehow found a higher gear:
- At 3:11, Holden Cattoni tied the game at 10 with assists from Mitch Jones and Isaiah Davis-Allen;
- At 2:12, Joe Resetarits put the Wings ahead with assists from Brennan O'Neill and Cattoni; and
- At 1:14, Jones scored his team-best fifth goal of the game with an assist from Cattoni, giving the Wings a 12-10 lead.
Mitch Jones have yourself a day 🔥🚨#PHIvsCAL pic.twitter.com/XhGQpDpR2z
Scott Dominey added an empty-netter for the Wings and Curtis Dickson scored one last time for the Roughnecks, but Jones' goal effectively finished the game.
"Kind of a choppy game . . . but the shots were dropping at the end there for us," said Jones afterwards. "Anytime there's lots of penalties, you just gotta keep your focus. Easier said than done at times, but I think being at home with our fans helped us."
The Wings went 4/5 on power plays while Calgary went 4/6.
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Wings head coach Ian Rubel didn't seem particularly concerned about the six penalties called on his club. "It's a discipline thing, really," Rubel said. "There's a fine balance . . . [but] these guys gotta just go out there and play. We can't control what the refs are gonna call, so we just gotta play through that."
Calgary's 21-6 advantage on faceoffs, however, may be more of a concern. Rubel credited the Roughnecks' Justin Rinacio for being one of the best faceoff specialists in the league. "He's a dominant faceoff guy," Rubel said. "We gotta do our best to knock that ball out and win loose ball battles."
CATTONI 200 NLL GOALS pic.twitter.com/tKTd4XxqHx
Cattoni reached 200 career NLL goals during the game.
"It's cool, for sure," said Cattoni when asked what the milestone meant to him. "It means I'm getting older," he joked.
The Buffalo Bandits represent the Wings' next test, on January 18 at Buffalo's Keybank Center. Buffalo has participated in each of the four most recent NLL Cup series, winning it all in both 2023 and 2024. They're also off to a 4-0 start this season, the only team with a better record than the Wings.
My National Lacrosse League Power Rankings (Top 8) After Week Seven:
1. Buffalo Bandits
2. Philadelphia Wings
3. Saskatchewan Rush
4. Vancouver Warriors
5. Colorado Mammoth
6. San Diego Seals
7. Ottawa Black Bears
8. Georgia Swarm
But if Rubel's guys can keep up their own stellar play, they just might take down the defending champs.
