Wings Fall Short of Playoffs in Rochester
Saturday, April 18, 2009
– Wings (7-9) were eliminated from
playoff contention on the final night of the regular season by the Rochester
Knightawks (7-9) by the score of 11 - 8 behind a great performance by goaltender
Pat O’Toole. Rochester secured the final playoff spot even though they
share the same record as Philadelphia, due to having a better winning
percentage versus East Division opponents.
“We just could
not get it going in the second half, Rochester played a great game,” said Head Coach
Dave Huntley.
Rochester opened the scoring with a shorthanded
goal, but Merrick Thomson responded just as the penalty expired to tie the
game. Former Wings legend Gary Gait
added a goal late in the quarter to give the Knighthawks a 2-1 lead at the end
of one.
The teams continued to battle in the second quarter, but it was
the Wings who managed a slight edge.
Athan Iannucci scored three second quarter goals to help give his team
the advantage. Two Rochester scores had the
teams knotted at four, but with three seconds remaining the half the Wings
pulled Rob Blasdell for an extra attacker and Mat Giles scored the go ahead
goal. Philadelphia took a one
goal lead into the locker room with the score 5-4.
Rochester took over in the
third quarter. Despite a Wings goal
just 33 seconds into the second half, Rochester rebounded and scored four straight
from four different Knighthawks.
Rochester
goalie Pat O’Toole made 10 saves on 11 shots and his team held an 8-6 lead going
into the final quarter of play.
The Knighthawks increased their scoring
streak to six straight to start the fourth quarter. The Wings were finally able to get on
the board behind two consecutive goals by Mat Giles, but they were the final two
goals for Philadelphia on the night. O’Toole stopped 46 of 54 shots overall
and only allowed three Wings goals in the second half and was the game’s
MVP.
For a complete scoring of tonight's game, log on to www.pointstreak.com.