PHILADELPHIA FALLS IN AFTERNOON MATCHUP
Saturday, March 25, 2006
PHILADELPHIA -
The Wings couldn't hold up to Arizona's pressure in a 13-12 loss Saturday
at the Wachovia Center in front of 11,693 fans. Philadelphia led after one quarter, but Arizona adjusted to handle the
Wings' offense and held the lead for most of the remainder of the game. Craig
Conn led the Sting with three goals and Dan Dawson added a goal and six assists.
Dan Marohl led the Wings with two goals and two assists.
"We just had a couple of moments where we didn't seem to be ready for
some pressure and it cost us," said Wings' coach Lindsay Sanderson. "Arizona
pressured the ball extremely well today and we didn't make the right decisions.
You have to be ready to play. "
Both teams were slow to warm up in the rare afternoon game. The Wings
finally started the offense six minutes into the first quarter with a goal by
Brad Self. It was another five minutes before Marc Morley added to
Philadelphia's lead. Wings' goalie Matt Roik led the defense, making four early
saves, including two during an Arizona power play. Craig Conn put the Sting on
the board, but Philadelphia answered with a goal by Shawn Nadelen. Arizona's
Peter Veltman made it a 3-2 game with 20 seconds left in the quarter.
The Sting started the offense in the second half with Conn's second goal
of the game. They continued with goals by Matt Brown and Dan Dawson to take a
5-3 lead. Philadelphia went nearly 13 minutes before Dan Marohl finally gave
Philadelphia a power-play goal to pull the Wings within one. Matt Brown added
his second goal in the final minute of the half to give Arizona a two-goal lead
going into the locker rooms.
Arizona kept its momentum going at the start of the third quarter. It
took just a minute for the Sting to take their largest lead of the game (7-4) on
a Lindsay Plunkett goal. The Wings got the point back 46 seconds later with
Glenn Clark's first goal of the game. Philadelphia turned the game around with
three more unanswered goals, by Jeff Ratcliffe, Sean Greenhalgh, and Rob Van
Beek. The four straight goals gave the Wings the lead for the first time since
the start of the second quarter. Arizona's Peter Lough tied the game with goal
off the next faceoff. The Sting regained the lead late in the quarter off a Pat
Maddalena goal.
Philadelphia knotted the game at nine with an early fourth quarter goal
by Jake Bergey. Arizona responded with goals by Plunkett, Curt Malawsky, and
Conn to take the lead for good. Morley added his second for Philadelphia, but
Chris Seller responded for Arizona. Ratcliffe brought the Wings within two with
six minutes remaining in regulation. Marohl added a final goal with Roik pulled
for an extra attacker, but the Wings couldn't force
overtime.
Dan
Marohl led the Wings in scoring with four points (2G,2A). Eight other players scored goals for
Philadelphia, including Glenn Clark (1G,1A), Marc Morley (2G), Sean Greenhalgh
(1G,2A), Brad Self (1G,3A), Shawn Nadelen (1G), Rob Van Beek (1G), Jake Bergey
(1G,1A), and Jeff Ratcliffe (2G).
Dan Dawson led the Sting in scoring with seven points (1G,6A). Eight
other players scored for Arizona, including Craig Conn (3G), Lindsay Plunkett
(2G,2A), Matt Brown (2G,1A), Peter Lough (1G,1A), Peter Veltman (1G,2A), Chris
Seller (1G,1A), Curt Malawsky (1G,3A), and Pat Maddalena
(1G,1A).
