Rochester drops its inaugural meeting with the Desert Dogs.
LAS VEGAS, N.V. — The Rochester Knighthawks (9-5) climbed within one goal on two separate occasions but were unable to completely close the gap as the dropped their inaugural meeting with the Las Vegas Desert Dogs (5-8), 12-7, Saturday at Michelob ULTRA Arena.
Connor Fields paced the Knighthawks offense, factoring in on five of Rochester’s seven goals. The forward scored a pair of goals to go with three assists to lead the team for the 11th time in his last 13, recording his 200th professional point. He also tallied his 13th consecutive multi-goal game and has recorded at least one point in 43 of his 45 games of his NLL career, dating back to his rookie season in 2019-20.
Ryan Smith (2+2) added two goals and a pair assists while Parker Pipher (2+1) finished with a three-point effort in his NLL debut. Holden Cattoni (1+3) and Turner Evans (0+2) both posted multi-point efforts while Austin Hasen and Thomas Hoggarth each notched one assist.
Knighthawks netminder Rylan Hartley (9-5) made his 14th consecutive start between the pipes, stopping 29 shots in the defeat.
Rochester’s head coach Mike Hasen joined an exclusive club, becoming just the sixth bench boss in NLL History to be behind the bench for 200 regular season games. He’s also the only one to have spent his entire coaching career in the same city.
Las Vegas forward Rob Hellyer (2+7) led all players with seven assists and nine points while Jack Hannah (4+2) notched the game’s only hat trick.
Marshal King (2+2) and Zack Greer (2+2) both tallied two goals each to go with two assists while Jon Phillips (0+3) and Connor Kirst (1+1) each netted a multi-point effort. Brandon Clelland (1+0), Sam Firth (0+1), and Jacob Ruest (0+1) all added one point. Former Knighthawks John Wagner (0+2) and Charlie Bertrand (0+1) combined for three assists.
Goaltender Landon Kells (4+5) appeared in his 12th contest of the season, stopping 44 shots to earn the win.
Facing a 6-4 deficit to start the second half for the second consecutive week, Fields fired a laser in the upper corner to bring Rochester within one just 2:05 into the third quarter.
Unfortunately for Knighthawks, the Desert Dogs closed out the frame with a three-goal run in less than five minutes to take a 9-5 lead into the final 15 minutes of regulation.
Rochester managed to chip into the deficit in the opening minute of the fourth quarter with Cattoni’s 30th of the campaign from Pipher and Fields.
Following the goal, however, Las Vegas countered with two more to grab its largest lead of the night as Hannah and Greer both scored their fourth and second goals of the contests, respectively.
To close out the game, Smith produced his 27th of the campaign from Fields before King sealed the 12-7 victory with just over eight minutes left in regulation.
In the first quarter, the two clubs exchanged goals to begin the scoring nearly four minutes apart on Smith and Hannah’s markers.
While the game was even at one after the first quarter, Fields put the Knighthawks up 2-1 just 29 seconds into the frame as he was set up by Smith and Cattoni.
The Desert Dogs, however, stormed back with a four-goal run in less than two minutes to take a 5-2 advantage.
Pipher put an end to Las Vegas’ run as he scored not only his first NLL goal but the rookie followed it up with his second to bring Rochester within one with just under six minutes left in the half.
With a pair of goals, Piper became the second Knighthawks rookie this season to score two goals in his professional debut, joining Austin Hasen.
King restored the Desert Dogs’ multi-goal lead going into the half as he fired a long-range shot from Hellyer and Wagner.
Rochester faced a 6-4 deficit to begin the second half but were limited to just three goals while Las Vegas doubled its goal total to earn the 12-7 victory.
The Knighthawks close out their two-game road swing as they look for redemption on Sunday, April 2, at 6 p.m. when they face the Philadelphia Wings at Wells Fargo Center.