NewsWings Shuffle Off To Buffalo Looking To Stop Winless Streak

Published on February 25, 2010 under National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Philadelphia Wings News Release


After suffering their fifth loss in a row, the Philadelphia Wings (1-6) will try to avenge their loss of two weeks ago to the Buffalo Bandits (2-5) when they travel to Buffalo to face the Bandits at the HSBC Arena on Saturday, February 27, beginning at 7:30 p.m. The Wings will then play two additional road games before returning home to Wachovia Center on Saturday, March 13 at 7 p.m. to face the Minnesota Swarm.

In their previous meeting, Bandits legend and the all-time leading scoring in NLL history, John Tavares (673G, 753A), made his return following a six game absence due to a calf injury. Tavares scored two goals and had four assists and won the NLL Offensive Player of the Week Award while Buffalo rookie goalie, Angus Goodleaf was named the NLL Defensive Player of the Week. Goodleaf replaced starting goalie Mike Thompson with his team down five goals and went on to stop 37 of the 43 shots he faced.

"He [Goodleaf] played well for us, especially stepping in there off the bench," said Assistant Coach Duane Jacobs. "I guess the only thing we consider now is if he gets the start will he come in and give us that same performance. He is a young man with a lot of confidence.

Seven points from Wings forward Kyle Wailes (4G, 3A) and an early five goal lead were not enough to defeat Buffalo the first time around, so if Philadelphia is to be successful on Saturday night they will need to a way to sustain their offensive attack for four quarters while shutting down Tavares who is Buffalo's offensive wizard and team leader.

Series Notes:

Overall: Tied at 19-19

At Philadelphia: 11-8 At Buffalo: 8-11 Last Meeting: February 13, 2010; Buffalo won at the Wachovia Center 13-11

About the Bandits: The Bandits (2-5) are currently fifth in the NLL's Eastern Division. They are eighth in the League on the power play, converting on 36% of their opportunities, and sixth in the League in killing power plays 57% of the time. The Bandits are 1-3 at home this season.

Mark Steenhuis leads the Bandits with 38 points (15G, 23A), followed by Brett Bucktooth with 16 points (8G, 8A) and Mike Accursi with 13 points (9G, 4A). Goodleaf has the best goals against average (8.24) of any of the three goaltenders used by Buffalo thus far this season.

About the Wings:

The Wings, (1-6) are currently sixth in the Eastern Division in the NLL. Philadelphia is 11th in the League on the power play, converting on 27% of their chances, and 10th in the League killing 46% of the power plays against them. The Wings are 0-3 on the road this season.

Wailes leads the Wings with 28 points (12G, 16A), followed by Drew Westervelt with 25 points (10G, 15A) and Mat Giles with 23 points (9G, 14A). Wings goalie Brandon Miller is second in the NLL with 347 saves.

Coaches Corner:

Wings General Manager and Head Coach David Huntley on the current position of the team and last week's game versus Rochester:

"It is uncharted territory for us at this stage. I do think we have quality guys and quality players on our team and I think if there is a group that can work themselves out of it, it's our group and we are going to continue to go out there and give it as big an effort as we can. In a tough building, against a tough team, but I think we are up to the task and we will do what we can this week."

"I think the game was as simple as this; they scored 10 special teams goals, two shorthanded and eight powerplay goals I believe and I think we scored one. We committed too many penalties and not only was our powerplay not effective putting the ball in the net, it wasn't very effective stopping them from scoring. In a nutshell that defined the game. We went into the game knowing they have a terrific powerplay and made a point of it, but unfortunately we were unable to limit the number of penalties we took and similarly were unable to take advantage of the penalties they took. It turned into a special teams contest and we came up way short on that. To beat a team like that you need to play a full four quarter game for 60 minutes and because of the number of penalties in the game we did not and that had the most to do with the score."

Bandits Assistant Coach Duane Jacobs on the importance of this week's matchup and the Buffalo goaltending situation:

"It is an important game for us and Philadelphia. They're all important right to the end of the season. Hopefully we can come out with another good performance and get back into the middle of the pack here in the conference."

"I think that is the way we are leaning. He [Angus Goodleaf] played well for us, especially stepping in there off the bench. I guess the only thing we consider now is that if he gets the start will he come in and give us that same performance. He is a young man with a lot of confidence. He saw some action earlier in Washington; I don't think we'll go wrong either way. Mike [Thomspon] had a shaky start there and of course he missed the first month of the season with an injury so we're not going to put much stock into that start that he had. I think either way we will have a solid performance from either one of those goaltenders."

Tickets to be a part of the number one rated lacrosse fans in the world and the Wings four remaining Saturday night home games in the 2010 NLL season are available now by calling 215-389-WING (9464) or by visiting WingsLAX.com.

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