Knighthawks Bend, Batter and Break Wings

The Rochester Knighthawks earned a critical 20-12 victory over the first place Philadelphia Wings at The Blue Cross Arena on Saturday. Rochester broke its three-game home losing streak with the victory over the Wings. Using runs of six unanswered goals and four answered goals in the first half, the Knighthawks took a game which featured three lead changes in the games’ first 11 minutes and made it a one-sided contest. In a span of 16 minutes, Shawn Williams (2), John Grant (2), Mat MacLeod and Scott Evans tallied goals for an early 7-3 first half advantage. A minute and a half later Williams, McLeod, Grant and Shawn Evans began another series of tallies to make it 12-5 with seven minutes to go in the second quarter. Despite outscoring Rochester (5-6) in the third quarter 4-1, the East’s top squad could not contain an impressive showing by the Knighthawk attack. Scoring 20 points for the first time this season, Rochester kept the offensive intensity for a full 60 minutes. Chris Schiller started the games’ early teeter-totter action scoring five minutes in. Schiller beat Wings’ goaltender Rob Blasdell in the top-right corner for a short-handed tally. Philadelphia’s Kyle Sweeney answered 19 seconds later to tie the game at one. Bill Greer scored only his second goal of the season for a 2-1 lead. Philadelphia’s Patrick Heim and Geoff Snider swung the momentum back into Philly’s favor just 36 second later. Heim beat Pat O’Toole through the five-hole then Snider capitalized nine seconds later to help the Wings grab a 3-2 margin with less then seven minutes to go in the first. Grant led all scores with four goals and four assists. Grant’s eight point night should be good enough to slide him into first place in the league scoring with 73 points. Last season, Grant led the league with 111 points averaging 7.4 points per game. This year, the reigning NLL MVP is averaging 6.6 points per game. Meanwhile, Ken Millin had a career night with seven points of his own and earned the games’ MVP. With the win Rochester snaps a two game home losing streak and splits the season series with Philadelphia. The Knighthawks now lead the all-time series with a mark of 17-14. After Saturdays game, Rochester finishes the season with four of its last five games on the road. Next week, Rochester travels to play the Colorado Mammoth at 9:00 p.m. on Thursday, April 3rd and then heads to Toronto to face the Rock on Saturday, April 5th at 7:00 p.m. Rochester’s last home game is Saturday, April 12th against the Buffalo Bandits at 7:35 p.m.