The Rochester Knighthawks played themselves into a huge hole in the first quarter of their home opener Saturday night ate the Blue Cross Arena.

After that, however, the Knighthawks delighted the 8,343 in attendance by playing like the contenders most people expect them to be, rallying for a 22-16 shootout win over the visiting Albany Attack.

After John Madigan and Nick Trudeau opened the game quickly to spot Albany an early 3-0 lead, Derek Malawsky scored, closing the gap to 3-1. However, that would be all the offense for the 'Hawks in the opening stanza. Trudeau had three goals and four assists in the first fifteen minutes alone, leading the Attack to an early 8-1 lead, reminiscent of its early lead against the Storm in their opener. The early barrage chased starting goalie Pat O'Toole with 1:17 remaining in the first, allowing eight goals on only eighteen shots.

Once the teams changed sides and the second quarter got underway, the Knighthawks started their rally. After Derek Malawsky opened the stanza's scoring early, a goal by Shawn Williams and two by Curt Malawsky, all within one minute of each other, brought both the Knighthawks and the crowd back into the game. Curt Malawsky soon completed a natural hat trick, while Cory Bomberry and Marshall Abrams provided the final strikes of the comeback, ending the first half at an 8-8 tie. Not only were the Attack held goalless for the entire quarter, they were only able to fire six shots on new goaltender Pat Campbell.

In what was a undisciplined game by both teams, it is not surprising that the flow of play followed the referee's whistle. In the first quarter, Rochester took six of the quarter's nine minor penalties, while Albany was whistled for eight of the second frame's ten penalties. Overall, the Knighthawks took 18 penalties for 36 minutes, and Albany was whistled 22 times for 52 minutes in penalties.

When the third quarter got underway, it looked like the second quarter domination was to continue when Bomberry and John Grant scored to give the Knighthawks both a 10-8 lead and nine consecutive goals. Finally, almost twenty minutes after Gary Rosyski scored to give Albany its earlier 8-1 lead, Josh Sanderson scored to close the score to 10-9. The Malawsky brothers traded goals with Sanderson and Dan Teat, pushing the score to 12-11. Rochester expanded the lead to 14-11, but Teat scored a late goal to end the frame at 14-12.

Rochester used the final quarter to put the game away. However, with the result of the game no longer in doubt, fans were treated to a John Grant penalty shot after Cam Woods was hit for a unsportsmanlike conduct penalty with two men already in the box. Grant beat Blasdell high, giving the Hawks a 20-15 lead with under three minutes to go.

Once again, we saw an offensive explosion for 38 goals, this time from two teams that are expected to be two of the better defenses in the NLL. While it's probably too early to lay blame entirely on the extra three inches between the posts, something has caused a drastic scoring increase. The league has already had three games of thirty-five or more goals, including a forty-nine-goal barnburner earlier today. A season ago, it took twenty-five games to find a trio of 35-plus games.

BOX SUMMARY
                                      1  2  3  4     TOT
Albany Attack (1-1)                   8  0  4  4  --  16
Rochester Knighthawks (1-0)           1  7  6  8  --  22

ALBANY ATTACK                 ROCHESTER KNIGHTHAWKS
               G - A   PTS                   G - A   PTS
Trudeau        3 - 6     9    D Malawsky     3 - 7    10
J Sanderson    4 - 3     7    Grant          2 - 7     9
Teat           3 - 3     6    C Malawsky     7 - 1     8
Rosyski        3 - 2     5    Williams       3 - 2     5
Grimoldby      0 - 4     4    D Jacobs       2 - 2     4
Regan          2 - 2     4    Soudan         0 - 4     4
Madigan        1 - 0     1    Co Bomberry    2 - 1     3
Beisel         0 - 1     1    Campbell       0 - 3     3
Santos         0 - 1     1    Abrams         2 - 0     2
                              Hollenbeck     1 - 1     2
                              Hasen          0 - 2     2
                              Sweet          0 - 1     1
                              Turner         0 - 1     1

Shots on goal           50    Shots on goal           64
Saves made by           42    Saves made by           34
   Blasdell          42          Campbell          24
                                 O'Toole           10
Penalties               22    Penalties               18
Penalty Minutes         52    Penalty Minutes         36
Power Play Chances      17    Power Play Chances      23
Power Play Goals         9    Power Play Goals         7
   J Sanderson        4          Co Bomberry        2
   Teat               2          C Malawsky         2 
   Regan              1          Williams           2
   Rosyski            1          D Malawsky         1
   Trudeau            1
Shorthanded Goals        1    Shorthanded Goals        0
   Regan              1          Grant              1

   *** STATS OFFICIAL BY VERIFY WITH NLL WEB SITE ***