The Vancouver Warriors will play their final regular season game at home against the Philadelphia Wings for Fan Appreciation Night this Saturday night at Rogers Arena. This will be the first meeting between the two teams this season as the Warriors look to close out their regular season strong.
Last Friday, the Warriors earned the win in an exciting 8-7 comeback over the Halifax Thunderbirds. With the win, the Warriors were able to clinch home floor advantage in their first playoff round and are tied with the Colorado Mammoth with a 12-5 record. With a chance to move up to first place this weekend, this final game could be an important one for the team.
The team played from behind for most of the game against Halifax and weren’t getting the right bounces to score. However, the Warriors kept pushing, and were able to tie it up, and eventually gained the lead from two clutch goals by Jesse King in the fourth quarter. This was a character win for the group, who were able to rally around each other and battle back.
King eventually finished the night with six points, including the hat trick, bringing him to 32 goals and 41 assists so far this season. Both Keegan Bal (2G, 2A) and Marcus Klarich (4A) tallied four points during the game. Netminder Christian Del Bianco had a very good night as well, stopping 43 of 50 shots on goal for an 86% save percentage.
With the four-point night, Bal officially broke his previous career high of 112 points, with a new career high of 113 points and one game remaining.
Week 21 will decide the final standings for the season, and with home floor advantage already decided, the Warriors will have to wait and see how the final games shake out across the league before they know who their first-round matchup will be.
At the beginning of March, the Wings announced this will be the last season for the franchise, and the contest against the Warriors is their last game of the season.
In their previous matchup against the Wings last season, the Warriors finished with a decisive 11-5 victory to close out their 24-25 campaign. The Warriors dominated much of the game and were able to find the back of the net consistently. Forward Adam Charalambides led the offence that night, registering two goals and four assists for a six-point night. Klarich and Bal also contributed to the effort, both tallying five points.
The defence was sharp for the entire game and made it challenging for the Wings to generate high-danger scoring chances. The Warriors limited the Wings on the score sheet and shut them out completely in the second quarter. Defencemen Matt Beers and Reid Bowering supported the team across the floor, picking up seven and eight loose balls, respectively.
Del Bianco had another excellent night in net, stopping 35 of 40 shots on goal for an 87.5% save percentage.
The Philadelphia Wings are coming off an 11-5 win over the Las Vegas Desert Dogs. They currently sit 14th in league standings with a 5-12 record and have been eliminated from playoff contention for this season.
Philadelphia is built around younger players, many of whom are relatively new to the league. Twenty-one-year-old forward Lukas Nielsen led the Wings in points against the Desert Dogs, registering four goals and three assists for seven points. Nielsen was acquired via trade on March 9 from the Buffalo Bandits, for veteran forward Joe Resetarits. Dalton Young, 25, and Kyle Jackson finished the night with six points each.
Current Wings point leader is 24-year-old Brennan O’Neill, who has been a key part of their offence this season, and currently has 31 goals and 36 assists for 67 points in only his second season in the NLL. Netminder Nick Damude has had a solid season, averaging a save percentage of 81.3% across 17 games.
The final opening faceoff of the regular season will be this Saturday at 7:00 p.m. PT. You can also watch the game live on TSN+ and NLL+.
With NLL+, you can re-watch highlights and full games throughout the season, and you can sign up for NLL+ here.