Friday night looked to be another chapter of misfortune for the downtrodden Philadelphia Wings.

A two-goal lead on Rochester disappeared in the final minute thanks to goals from Kyle Jackson and Cody Jamieson, with the latter coming with 28 seconds remaining on the clock.

This time, the luck was on their side.

The referees missed an over-and-back call on a leaping save at the center line by the Wings in overtime, setting up Philadelphia for its first game-winning tally in franchise history.

Chris Cloutier found Blaze Riorden to the right of the crease with a pass and Riorden fired a quick-stick shot to beat Angus Goodleaf and secure a 15-14 victory.

“It was kind of a blur,” Riorden said. “Honestly, it was a layup. It had nothing to do with me, just a lot of hard work for 60 minutes.”

Kiel Matisz had three goals and five assists while Jordan Hall had two goals and three assists. Josh Currier notched a hat trick against his former team as Philadelphia moved to 1-6.

FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE 2014, THE PHILADELPHIA WINGS HAVE WON A LACROSSE GAME pic.twitter.com/CCWIRFpw6I

— Jordie (@BarstoolJordie) February 2, 2019

As a goalie and now as a forward, check out @BRiorden10 with the OT beauty #SCTOP10 pic.twitter.com/NlM5Aw2WmE

— Philadelphia Wings (@NLLwings) February 2, 2019

Struggling Champs

Strange to see Saskatchewan at 3-3, isn’t it?

The Rush, dominant in the regular season as of late, moved down to .500 and into third place in the West Division with a 16-13 loss to the increasingly impressive Toronto Rock.

Adam Jones scored four goals and four assists for the Rock, now 6-1 and winners of five straight.

“Their record doesn’t show it, but they’re a good team," Jones told NLL.com. "We were prepared tonight and we played a full 60.”

The second quarter proved to be the deciding period, with the two teams each scoring 11 in the other three quarters. The Rock got goals from five different players in a 5-2 run in the frame to take a 11-7 lead at the break.

In addition to Jones’ big night, Rob Hellyer had two goals and five assists for Toronto, which gets this next weekend off.

Roc Bottom

The loss to Philadelphia kicked off another weekend to forget for the Knighthawks, now fifth in the East standings.

Georgia’s big guns all put up monster numbers in a 16-12 road win for the Swarm Saturday in Blue Cross Arena. Randy Staats, the league’s leading scorer, dished out eight assists in addition to his hat trick, while Holden Cattoni had five goals and five assists and Lyle Thompson four goals and five assists.

Mike Poulin got a rare break in net, setting up the first career victory for Kevin Orleman. The former second-round pick in 2016 made 33 saves in his first career NLL action. Rochester could have used John Grant Jr., who watched from the stands after his jersey retirement.

The 2-5 Knighthawks have lost five of their last six but have a chance to climb back up with five straight games against divisional foes.

Georgia’s victory capped off a 2-0 weekend for the Swarm, tied with Toronto for first place but a game back in the loss column. Lyle Thompson scored his third of the game with four and a half minutes left to end a late New England Black Wolves rally on Friday and seal a 12-10 victory.

The Swarm pulled ahead thanks to a 5-1 run in the third and fourth quarters. Thompson led all scorers with three goals and four assists, while New England’s Reilly O’Connor had three goals and three assists.

New England has lost two straight and failed to score in the double digits both times after opening the season 3-1.

Bandits Fend Off Mammoth

The Buffalo Bandits, once again playing without injured Josh Byrne, got eight points from Dhane Smith in a 15-12 victory against Colorado on Saturday.

Buffalo had to fend off multiple runs by the Mammoth, including a four-goal rally to equalize after the Bandits went up 4-0 in the first quarter, but never trailed. Colorado’s last push came in the fourth quarter, concluding with a goal by Stephen Keogh in the final two minutes to cut the lead to 14-12. 

Colorado wasn’t able to capitalize on a chance to cut the lead to one before Ethan O’Connor all but ended the game with an empty-netter with 25 seconds left.

“It was just back and forth,” Bandits co-coach Rich Kilgour said. “We could never finally kick them and make them stay down. Hats off to them. They kept coming back. And hats off to us. We kept coming back.”

Outside of Smith, the rest of the Bandits offense was rather balanced, with Shawn Evans and Chase Fraser each scoring a hat trick.

Both teams wore special uniforms for the sixth annual Tucker Out Lymphoma night, a celebration of the late son of former Bandit and current Colorado assistant coach Shawn Williams.

“It has now been over four years since cancer stole our Tucker,” Williams said in a prerecorded message to Bandits fans. “Although he isn’t physically here, Tucker is here in our hearts ready to celebrate.”

Colorado, losers of two straight, dropped to 1-5 but is still tied with Vancouver for the final playoff spot in the West.

Defensive Battle

Calgary allowed only one goal to Vancouver in the second half and ended the game on a three-goal run to earn an 8-5 win in the lowest scoring game of the weekend.

Christian del Bianco made 35 saves on 40 shots, while Rhys Duch had four points, with two coming on the game-winning run.

“At the end of the day, there was no panic set in,” Roughnecks coach Curt Malawsky said. “From a defensive perspective, we had ten guys going out there. Sometimes you cut your lines down. We didn’t have to do that tonight. All 10 guys were rolling.”

NLL Week 9 Preview

Warriors at Seals
Friday, 10 p.m. ET

Offense: Mitch Jones had a point on all five Warriors' goals this weekend. Austin Staats had nine points in the Seals' last game two weeks ago.

Defense: Eric Penney was strong between the pipes for a second straight game with the Warriors. He made 42 saves on 50 shots and retained the league lead for goals against average. Across the floor will be Frank Scigliano, the league’s leader in save percentage.

Mammoth at Wings
Saturday, 7 p.m. ET

Offense: Philadelphia’s 15 goals this week tied a franchise high previously set against Buffalo in the team’s debut. Eli McLaughlin notched a season-high seven points against the Bandits.

Defense: Steph Charbonneau had a goal and two assists out the back door for Philly this week.

Knighthawks at Black Wolves
Saturday, 7 p.m. ET

Offense: Rochester’s Cody Jamieson had six assists but was held to one goal for the fourth time this season by Georgia. New England’s offense had scored at least 12 times each game before mustering five goals against Buffalo and eight against Georgia.

Defense: The Knighthawks' defense hasn’t held a team under 12 goals this season. Rochester is 0-4 on the road this season.

Bandits at Swarm
Saturday, 7:05 p.m. ET

Offense: Kilgour said the Bandits are being cautious with Byrne’s injury and are waiting to get medical clearance. Staats has scored at least twice in six straight games and has nine or more points in two of his last three.

Defense: Buffalo’s Steve Priolo’s 13 points leads NLL defensemen. Connor Sellars is Georgia’s leading defensive scorer with five points.

Roughnecks at Rush
Saturday, 8:30 p.m. ET

Offense: Saskatchewan’s lethal power play unit wasn’t given a single man-advantage opportunity against Toronto. Calgary’s Rhys Duch is just five goals away from tying his total from 2018 and already has two more power play goals than he notched last year. 

Defense: Calgary’s penalty kill unit moved atop the league by going three-for-three on Saturday. This matchup features the top two loose ball leaders in the league, Jeremy Thompson and Zach Currier.