Reilly O'Connor had two goals and two assists on Friday night.

(Photo by Bill Harper)

UNCASVILLE

—The Eastern Division-leading New England Black Wolves took two games from

the Rochester Knighthawks this weekend, lifting their home record to 3-0, best in the National Lacrosse League.





On Saturday night, Aaron Bold turned aside a season-high 48 shots to lead the Black Wolves over the Knighthawks, 9-8 in Rochester. Just one save shy of his career-high, the 32-year-old Victoria, BC, native, eclipsed his previous season-high of 39, set on Dec. 29 vs. Vancouver. Stephan Leblanc added two goals and four assists, while Shawn Evans chipped in with one goal and five assists.





The first half was a back and forth affair. After Rochester scored just 53 seconds into the contest, the Black Wolves came right back to knot the score at one goal apiece up just 1:27 later on a tally by Kevin Buchanan. After the Knighthawks picked up another, Leblanc found the back of the net on the power play with 3:45 remaining in the first quarter. Rochester scored on a power play of its own with just over two minutes later, but Kevin Buchanan picked up his second tally of the frame to tie it up at 3-3 with 35 seconds to play in the frame.





The second quarter started the much like as the first, with the Knighthawks picking up the first goal 3:57 in. Kyle Buchanan found the back of the net on the power play to tie the score at 4-4 before Rochester scored again to take a 5-4 lead. Evans tied it up on a pass from Adam Bomberry with just 47 seconds left in the half





New England scored first in the third, with Leblanc picking up his second 1:31 into the quarter to put the Black Wolves up 6-5. Rochester scored 50 seconds later, but David Brock picked up his second goal of the season to put New England up 7-6 with 8:47 left in the quarter.





Leblanc picked off a Rochester pass and fed it to Seth Oakes, who found the back of the net with 1:41 left in the third to put the Black Wolves up by two. That’s where the score stood at the end of the third.





To open the fourth quarter, Kevin Crowley increased his consecutive games scoring streak to 23 games, putting New England up by three, 9-6, with 11:51 left to play. Rochester scored with 1:57 to play to cut the Black Wolves’ advantage to two and with 20 seconds remaining, Cody Jamieson scored on a penalty shot to pull the Knighthawks within one. But Bold and the defense remained strong in the closing seconds to solidify the victory.





Jamieson led the Knighthawks with six points on two goals and four assists. Joe Resetarits scored twice and dished out two assists.





On Sunday, the Wolves returned to the friendly confines of the Mohegan Sun Arena where they held off Rochester in a physical, defensive battle, 9-8, before 5,373 on Native American Heritage Day. It was the third straight win for New England, which has held each opponent to fewer than 10 goals during the streak. It was also the second win in eight days over the Knighthawks.





Kevin Crowley and Shawn Evans each had three goals for the Black Wolves while Reilly O’Connor and Stephan Leblanc each scored twice. Goalie Aaron Bold backed up an active and aggressive New England defense with some clutch saves, including a pair of point-blank stops in the closing minutes.





Sunday was a rough-and-tumble affair as the Blackwolves survives a

9-8 battle at the Mohegan Sun Arena. (Photo by Bill Harper)

“The identity we said we wanted to establish in the offseason was being very sound and predictable on defense,” Black Wolves coach Glenn Clark said. “I think we have a pretty good sample size now that we are becoming that team.”





The Black Wolves never trailed in the game, but did go more than 30 minutes without a goal, including the entire second quarter. The New England defense kept Rochester bottled up for much of that same span, however.





O’Connor (two goals, three assists) broke the drought with 2:36 left in the third quarter when he converted a rebound off a missed shot by Evans, beating Rochester goalie Matt Vinc to make it 7-6. Then, 26 seconds later, he scored again from the edge of the crease to make it 8-6.





The Knighthawks rallied to tie the game, and appeared to take their first lead early in the fourth quarter. But an official review determined Cory Vitarelli’s foot was in the crease and it was overturned.





Soon thereafter, Crowley and Evans (three goals, three assists) took over. Crowley scored with 9:06 remaining to make it 9-8, and Evans collected his third of the game with 2:36 left to make it 10-8. Then, with 1:29 remaining, Crowley beat Vinc low to the left corner to make it 11-8.





The Black Wolves bolted out to a 4-1 lead just 8:13 into the game on two goals from Evans and single goals from Leblanc and David Brock. Leblanc and Kevin Crowley would add goals later in the quarter, but Rochester rallied to within 6-5 after the first quarter, and scored the only goal of the second quarter to tie the game, 6-6, at halftime.





Leblanc and Kevin Buchanan each had two assists for New England. Joe Resetartis had two goals and an assist while Austin Shanks had two goals.





With the weekend sweep, the Black Wolves improve to 4-1 and are now tied with Saskatchewan for the best record in the #NLL. Rochester falls to 2-4. Next up for New England will be a trip to Toronto where they will face the Rock on Friday night at 7 p.m.