Knighthawks Four Game Slide Could Be Critical for Playoff Spot 4/8/23

Christopher Crane, Rochester Knighthawks Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©

Photo Credit: S. Cordaro

As the NLL regular season is winding down every game becomes more important for each team in their own right. One of those matchups this weekend in the NLL saw the playoff hopeful Rochester Knighthawks (9-7) host the Albany FireWolves (3-12) at the Blue Cross Arena. Both teams were looking to get back in the win column as Rochester had dropped their last three while Albany was on a ten game losing streak. Although Albany is out of the playoff picture., Rochester is still trying to clinch a spot so this was a must win for them; however the FireWolves played like they were making a push for the playoffs as they controlled much of the game and held the lead all game. Rochester was able to get within one score in the latter part of the third when they went on a three goal run to make it 10-9, but Albany was able to keep up the pressure and held on to a 14-12 victory. Albany would be led by Connor Kelly (5g, 2a) with seven points on the night with Rochester’s Connor Fields (2g, 8a) leading the Knighthawks with 10 points on the night. Fields would also reach several milestones on the night becoming the first player in franchise history and only the third American born player to hit 100 points in a season behind Joe Resetarits and Tom Schreiber. He also tallied his 100^th career goal during the contest.

The FireWolves would jump out to a 3-1 lead in the first with Tanner Thomson (3g, 2a) netting the first score at 51 seconds in. Both teams would go back and forth for five minutes of play before Albany would find the back of the net once again this time on a score from Nick Chaykowsky (1g) to put Albany up 2-0 at 5:54. Both netminders stood strong for over five minutes and with 4:52 left in the frame, Connor Kelly would notch his first of five on the night. Rochester would get their lone score of the quarter from Thomas Hoggarth (2g, 1a) with 17 seconds remaining in the first quarter. Score at the end of one: FireWolves 3—Knighthawks 1.

Albany would get on the board first once again to start the second quarter. Kelly would net his second of the night just 11 seconds into play to put the FireWolves up 4-1. Rochester would then make it a 4-2 game with a marker from Holden Cattoni (4g, 1a) at the 4:42 mark of the second. It took the FireWolves only 15 seconds to extend their lead to 5-2 with a tally from Jackson Reid (2g, 1a) and from John Piatelli at 5:48 putting them up 6-2. Just as in the first, the netminders stood tall in between the pipes. Rochester would be the ones to answer back with two of their own coming from Ryan Smith (1g, 2a) with 5:39 to go and Cattoni for his second score of the night with 3:45 to go making it a 6-4 game. This time Albany would get one more score to close out the second on a power play opportunity with Thomson finding the back of the net with 39 seconds on the ticker to put the FireWolves ahead 7-4 heading into halftime.

The Knighthawks would outscore the FireWolves 5-3 in the third. Rochester would get on the board at 1:53 with Cattoni netting his third of the night to make it a 7-5 game. Albany’s Jake Fox (2g, 2a) would hit back at the 2:19 mark and the three goal lead was restored 8-5. With 6:06 left in the third, the Knighthawks would answer back with Fields netting his first of two in the quarter to make it 8-6. But Albany wasn’t going to cut them any slack and would tally back-to-back markers from Fox and Kelly to put the FireWolves ahead 10-6 with 2:22 left in the frame. The Knighthawks would make a push at the end of the third and go a three goal run. Curtis Knight (3g, 2a) netted two scores the first coming on a power play opportunity and Fields tallying his hat-trick. Rochester would get to within one to close out the third with the score 10-9.

Albany would extend their lead in the fourth and would go ahead 12-9 tallying the first two scores from Thomson and Reid. Rochester’s Cattoni would then make it a 12-10 game at the 2:46 mark of the quarter. Albany would go up 13-10 with Kelly netting his fourth of the game. The Knighthawks wouldn’t make it that easy as they would rally to make it 13-12 with Hoggarth and Knight scoring just 14 seconds apart with just over two minutes left in regulation. Both teams would battle back and forth in the closing minutes. Unfortunately Rochester couldn’t put up another tally and Albany would notch another on a very questionable goal as the shot clock was winding down. Kelly would nonchalantly throw the ball towards Rochester’s goalie Ryan Hartley who stepped to stop the ball which took a weird skip and found the back of the net. Upon review it was shown the shot clock had hit zero before the ball had crossed the line, but officials called inconclusive evidence and the score stood securing Albany the win. Final score: FireWolves 14—Knighthawks 12.

STATS:

Albany FireWolves—SOG 51; Saves 42; Sv% .778%; FO 11-30; PP 1-3
Rochester Knighthawks—SOG 54; Saves 32; Sv% .725%; FO 19-30 PP 1-1

NEXT UP:

The Rochester Knighthawks (9-7) have a bye week and will be in action again on Saturday April 22, 2023 when they play host to the Georgia Swarm (7-8) at Blue Cross Arena, game time 7:00 p.m. EST. Fans in the USA can see the game on ESPN+. Fans in Canada can see the action on TSN.ca or the TSN app.

The Albany FireWolves (3-12) will play host to the Georgia Swarm (7-8) at MVP Arena in Uniondale, NY on Saturday April 15, 2023, game time 7:00 p.m. EST. Fans in the USA can see the game on ESPN+. Fans in Canada can see the action on TSN.ca or the TSN app.