By Anthony Caruso III | Publisher
Philadelphia, PA – The Philadelphia Wings have lost another tough game. The Wings hoped to split their home games in the past two weeks.
But the Wings were not successful in going on the road with a .500 record. The Wings lost to the Buffalo Bandits, 9-6, last night at the Wells Fargo Center.
“I thought we actually played better than we did last weekend,” Wings head coach John Tucker said. “We were playing a pretty good, offensive team. Brandon Miller was good in the net again. We were frustrated on offense a bit.”
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The Wings and Bandits have been battling each other for a very long time. The game was their 40th all-time meeting. The Bandits increased their lead over the Wings to 21-19 all-time.
“It’s great!” said coach Tucker. “They are a very good team and a well-coached team. It was a physical game. We’re happy to be apart of it. Hopefully, next time we can come out on top.”
The loss drops the Wings to 0-2 on the season. It is the first time since the 2007 season that the Wings have fell to 0-2 to begin a season. The Bandits improved to 1-1 overall.
“Absolutely, (in regards to the Wings goal of winning the championship this season after starting 0-2),” Tucker said. “Getting the first one is always the most difficult. We’ll keep battling and we’ll get there. We’ll be OK. It’s a long season — 16 games — and we’re only 2 down. We’ll see if we’ll get this ship righted.”
Mark Steenhuis scored the final goal of the game. He scored at 12:54 left in the game. It put the Bandits up 9-6 with a few minutes left to play. It was also Steenhuis third goal of the season.
The Wings were making a late charge in the game, before Steenhuis scored his goal. The Wings scored back-to-back goals to get within 2 goals at 8-6. Wings forward Athan Iannucci scored at 12:23 to make it 8-6.
It was Iannucci’s second straight game with a goal. This is Iannucci’s first season back since the 2009 season.
He suffered two tears in his knee and had successful surgery in July 2008, before returning to the Wings in the third game of the 2009 season.
After a few minutes into the third game, he re-injured his knee and had to sit out the 2010 NLL season after a second knee surgery.
“He has played OK,” said Tucker. “He has to score more than once for us to win, though.”
Besides Iannucci’s goal, Alex Turner also scored at 8:37 of the fourth quarter. Turner made the score 8-5. A short time before Turner’s goal, the Bandits struck again.
John Tavares scored at 7:54 of the fourth to make it 8-4.
At 7:39 in the fourth, Tracey Kelusky scored to make it 7-4 Bandits. Wings forward Drew Westervelt made it 6-4 with a goal at 2:24.
Bandits forward Frank Resetarits scored shortly after the beginning of the fourth quarter. About 30 seconds into the quarter, Resetarits scored to make it 6-3 Bandits.
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There was only one goal in the third quarter. The Bandits scored that goal, when Tavares scored at 10:38 to give the Bandits a 5-3 lead.
The Bandits were leading 4-3 at halftime.The Bandits also scored the lone goal in the second quarter. Tavares scored at 6:27 to give the Bandits a 4-3 lead.
It was the second straight week that the Wings lost the lead in the second quarter and were not able to overcome it.
The Wings scored back-to-back goals to tie the game at 3-3 in the first quarter. Westervelt tied the game at 3-3 with his goal at 13:40.
Max Seibald made the score 3-2 Bandits with his goal at 12:23.
“I think we have to be a little more consistent with driving to the middle,” Tucker said. “We have become a perimeter team. (Last night) was the same thing. I thought in the first half, we did a good job. (Last) night, we had too many unforced turnovers. Playing on the outside kind of hurt us.”
The Bandits scored three straight goals within a 5 minute span, between the Wings’ first and second goals. Chad Culp scored back-to-back goals at 5:14 and 8:56 to give the Bandits a 2-1 lead.
Brendan Thenhaus gave the Bandits a 3-1 lead with a goal at 9:47.
Westervelt scored the first goal of the game at 3:30. It was the first time in the young season that the Wings scored first.
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