Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 1/11/20
From Press Release
The Philadelphia Wings opened the Wells Fargo Center in grand fashion Friday night, outscoring Vancouver 7-3 in the second quarter to open up a tie game and set the foundation for an 18-10 victory in their first home game of the 2020 season.
Josh Currier paced the Wings with an eight-point night (4G, 4A) while Blaze Riorden contributed seven points (3G, 4A) and Matt Rambo (La Salle, Springside CHA assistant coach) posted six assists. Kevin Crowley (Fusion Co-Founder, Shipley assistant coach) had three goals, the second of which was the 300th of his career, and Zach Higgins frustrated the Warriors throughout the evening with several key saves among his 40 stops.
After starting the season with three games on the road, the Wings came home riding the franchise’s first winning streak comprised of victories in Calgary and New York. They started off the right way with the game’s first two goals, as Crowley and Brett Hickey scored 43 seconds apart to make it 2-0.
Vancouver tied it with a pair of goals before the end of the quarter, but then the Wings started to pull away. Trevor Baptiste scored 58 seconds into the second quarter to start a 4-0 run, and after Justin Salt got one for Vancouver, Cory Vitarelli scored twice in a row to make it 8-4. Vancouver got the next two, but Hickey scored with three seconds left in the half to give the Wings momentum and a 9-5 halftime lead.
The third quarter continued to go Philadelphia’s way, as the Wings started the period with a 6-1 run. Currier had two of the goals and four other players contributed. The backbreaking run included three consecutive shorthanded goals – two of them six seconds apart, from Crowley and Baptiste, and then a third from Currier. The teams played an even fourth quarter that included Steph Charbonneau getting in on the scoring action.
Baptiste dominated the faceoff dot once again, winning 27 of 31 draws on the night. Higgins anchored a terrific effort from the penalty kill, which held the powerful Warriors offense to three PPG on seven chances, two of which came in the final 15:15 of the game after it was out of reach.
The Wings are now 3-1 on the campaign and will move on to their first back-to-back of the season, which starts in New England on Saturday and comes back to Philadelphia on Sunday, January 19 at 7:00 vs. the Rochester Knighthawks. Tickets for that and all home games are available at WingsLAX.com.
