Buffalo Sweeps Weekend Series with Philadelphia

[Sonny]

BUFFALO, NY - The Philadelphia Wings were defeated the Buffalo Bandits by a score of 20-16 at HSBC Arena in the second game of a home and home series. The Bandits defeated the Wings last night in Philadelphia by a score of 15-10. The Wings return home for their next game on Saturday, February 5 against the San Jose Stealth at the Wachovia Center at 8:00 p.m.

"I'm really proud of these guys because of how hard they worked tonight," said Wings' General Manager and Head Coach Lindsay Sanderson. "A couple of breaks and we would have won this game tonight. If they keep working like this, things will turn around for this team."

Philadelphia started the scoring early when Jeff Ratcliffe scored just :20 into the game. Buffalo got their first goal of the night on a power play goal by John Tavares at 1:35, but Philadelphia's Tom Marechek scored a power play goal of his own at 4:28 to put the Wings up by one again. The Bandits tied the game at two when Jason Crosbie scored at 9:27, but the Wings went up by one when rookie Dan Finck scored his first career NLL goal with just :48 left in the quarter.

The Bandits started the second quarter with a game-tying goal by Mark Steenhuis. Wings defenseman Bryan Barrett put his team up again when he scored unassisted at 2:11. But Steenhuis tied the game again when the Bandits send on an extra attacker on a delayed penalty call against the Wings. Buffalo got the go-ahead goal when Kyle Jamieson scored his first career goal at 5:19. Philadelphia tied the game at five each when Marechek scored on a penalty shot at 7:04. The Wings added two straight goals when Ryan Ward and Jake Bergey each got their first of the night. The Bandits added one more before the end of the half when Crosbie scored his second of the night. At the end of the first half the Wings held a 7-6 lead. Wings goaltender Nick Schroeder had 21 shots on goal in the first half while Derek General had 19 for the Bandits.

Tavares got his second of the night just :50 into the third quarter to start the scoring for the Bandits followed by another Buffalo goal just :42 later by Aime Canes. Tavares got the hat trick just at 2:48 to put the Bandits up by two over the Wings followed by another Buffalo goal by Tyler Francie. Andrew Guindon put the Wings on the board again with his goal at 4:24. Kyle Sweeney brought the Wings within one goal of the Bandits when he netted one at 5:54. The Bandits then scored two straight goals (Dan Teat, Tavares) to put them up by three. Marc Morley scored two goals straight to pull the Wings within one and Finck scored his second of the night to tie the game. But Tavares scored his fifth goal of the game with just :34 left to put the Bandits up by a score of 13-12 at the end of three quarters.

Buffalo scored first in the fourth quarter when Caines netted his second of the night. The Wings' Marechek recorded his first hat trick of the season at 2:44. The Bandits then scored four straight goals (Caines, Delby Powless, Caines, AJ Shannon) to increase their lead by four. The Wings then added an extra attacker, which allowed Marechek to get his fourth goal of the night. The Wings kept the extra attacker on the field, allowing Steenhuis to score an empty net goal at 10:02. The teams traded goals (Shannon - BUF, Morley - PHI). Steenhuis scored again for the Bandits at 10:47 to put them up by five goals. Marechek scored the final goal of the game for the Wings on his second penalty shot. At the end of the game, the Bandits maintained a 20-16 lead. Wings' goaltender Schroeder made 35 saves on the night while Bandits' General made 37.

Leading the Wings in scoring were Tom Marechek with five goals, Marc Morley with five points (3G, 2A), Mark Frye with three points (3A), Dan Finck with two goals, Jake Bergey, Jeff Ratcliffe, and Ryan Ward all with two points (1G, 1A), and Bryan Barrett, Andrew Guindon, and Kyle Sweeney all with one goal.