Rochester travels to Torono Friday and faces New England at home Saturday night.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — This week, the Rochester Knighthawks will embark on their first two-game in two-night stretch of the season, as they battle the Toronto Rock and the New England Black Wolves. The games will be broadcast on 107.3 The Bull and on the iHeartRadio app. Fans can also watch the contests on NLL TV (nlltv.com).
On Friday, Jan. 12, the Knighthawks will travel to Toronto to take on the Rock at 7:30 p.m. at the Air Canada Centre. The following evening, Rochester will return home to entertain the New England Black Wolves at 7:30 pm at Connors & Ferris Field at The Blue Cross Arena.
Scouting the Knighthawks: After a bye week, the Knighthawks (2-1) enter the two-game set tied for first place in the East Division with the Black Wolves (2-1). Both teams hold a half-game lead over Toronto (2-2) and Buffalo (2-2). Rochester is currently in the midst of an eight-game swing through the East Division, and is currently 1-1 against divisional opponents. Goalie Matt Vinc has been his dominating self and enters the weekend second in the NLL in save percentage (.813), third in goals-against average (10.33) and fourth in saves (135). Joe Resetarits has led the way offensively with 19 points (8+11), while Dan Dawson is a close second with 18 (6+12). Meanwhile, Scott Campbell is tied for the league-lead in points among defensemen with nine. Rochester has also gotten contributions from rookies Eric Fannell and Jake Withers. Fannell is tied for third in rookie scoring with six points (3+3), while Withers leads all first-year players with 36 faceoff wins and is third with 28 loose balls.
‘Special’ Teams: Rochester leads the NLL in power-play efficiency (71.43) and penalty killing (82.35).
Home Cooking: Rochester is 2-0 at home this season. A win Saturday would be the first time since the 2014 season that the Knighthawks have opened with three straight home victories.
Milestone Alert:
• Dan Dawson is five goals away from tying Curt Malawsky for 10th on the team’s all-time goal-scoring list.
• Matt Vinc is 100 minutes away from passing Pat O’Toole for third all-time in minutes played in league history. Vinc has currently played 10,183 minutes.
Scouting the Rock: Toronto won its second in a row to even its record at .500 after blasting the Vancouver Stealth 24-7 Saturday night at the Langley Events Centre. The Rock have now scored 20-plus goals in back-to-back games for the first time in franchise history. Their 17 first-half goals set an NLL record and their 24 goals was the second most in team history. Tom Schreiber and Rob Hellyer both notched career highs with 12 points, while Adam Jones chipped in with 10 to take over the league’s points lead with 28 in four games.
Scouting the Black Wolves: Like Rochester, New England was off last weekend. Before the break, the Black Wolves defeated Vancouver 13-9 on Dec. 29. So far this season, New England has been led by Shawn Evans (20 points) and Kevin Crowley (11). Stephan Leblanc, who was acquired from Toronto on Dec. 20, has one goal and five assists in two games with his new team. Goalie Aaron Bold has a 2-1 record and a 13.20 goals-against average in his first year in New England.