The Rochester Knighthawks avoided falling victim to a major upset when Derek Malawsky beat Calgary Roughneck goalie Matt King on a three-on-one break with just nineteen seconds left, giving the Knighthawks a 14-13 victory in front of 8,487 fans at the Blue Cross Arena Saturday night.

The goal ended a back-and-forth battle in which neither team ever led by more than three goals, and never by more than one in the fourth quarter.

Chris Panos got the Roughnecks off to an early lead, tallying shorthanded for one of three Calgary man-down goals on the night. Knighthawk captain Duane Jacobs scored a power play goal to even the score, but Knighthawk nemesis Kaleb Toth score just over 20 seconds later to regain the lead. John Grant tallied another power play goal, and D'Arcy Sweet benefited from a fortutious bounce off the boards to give the K'Hawks their first lead of the night. Toth then scored twice, just two minutes apart, to complete a first quarter hat trick, and Shawn Williams and Ben Prepchuk exchanged late tallies to close the quarter with Calgary in front by a single marker, 4-3.

Rochester seemed ready to take control in the second quarter, when Duane Jacobs and Curt Malawsky tallied seconds apart to give the Knighthawks the lead at 6-5. However, as they did each time that Rochester made a run, Calgary responded when Panos scored his second of three on the night. Williams and Grant gave Rochester their first two-goal cushion, at 8-6, but Toth responded late to end the half, and Calgary entered the locker rooms trailing the powerhouse Knighthawks by only one goal.

The third quarter began much the same as the second, and Williams, Tim Soudan, and Jeremy Hollenbeck scored three of the first four goals of the quarter for Rochester, only interrupted by Toth's fifth of the night. Halfway thru the quarter, Rochester led 11-8, and when Calgary's Jason Wulder took a slash only 51 seconds after Calgary took a penalty for too many men, Rochester seemed poised to put the game away on a five-on-three power play. Instead, the Roughnecks capitalized on the Knighthawks' laziness, and scored a shorthanded goal while down two men, a feat that is momentum-building for the team that scores, and embarrassing for the team up two men. Jesse Phillips scored the goal after three Rochester players decided he wasn't going to press the attack while down two men, and Phillips slalomed through the Rochester defense for a open shot. Rochester failed to score on both ends of the five-on-three advantage, and Wulder added a late goal to end the quarter with Calgary down only 11-10.

Chris Panos completed his hat trick just over three minutes into the quarter to tie the score. Calgary was never able to break through and claim the lead, however, as Williams and Toth, then Derek Malawsky and Wulder exchanged goals to move to a 13-13 tie, in advance of Derek Malawsky's game-winner at 14:41. That goal was setup by poor decision-making by several Roughnecks. Four Calgary players got caught deep going after the loose ball, setting up a three-on-one break after Malawsky broke from the bench on a change. Rochester executed the break flawlessly, and the Roughnecks fell just short of the upset.

With the win, the Knighthawks move into a first place tie in the Central Division with the idle Albany Attack at 4-1. Before the Knighthawks head into a showdown with the Attack in two weeks, they'll take on Buffalo at HSBC Arena a week from tonight. Calgary, one of two teams to complete half of their schedule before the ball drops in Times Square, falls to 4-4 and a second place tie with Vancouver, and takes next week off before hosting the leader in the Northern Division, the Toronto Rock, in the first match of a three-game homestand.

BOX SUMMARY
                                      1  2  3  4     TOT
Calgary Roughnecks (4-4)              5  2  2  3  --  13
Rochester Knighthawks (4-1)           4  4  3  3  --  14

CALGARY ROUGHNECKS            ROCHESTER KNIGHTHAWKS
               G - A   PTS                   G - A   PTS
Toth           6 - 3     9    Williams       4 - 4     8
Prepchuk       1 - 3     4    D Malawsky     2 - 2     4
K Goundrey     0 - 4     4    Co Bomberry    0 - 4     4
Panos          3 - 0     3    Grant          2 - 1     3
Wulder         2 - 1     3    D Jacobs       2 - 1     3
King           0 - 2     2    Soudan         1 - 2     3
J Phillips     1 - 0     1    Hollenbeck     1 - 1     2
Bysouth        0 - 1     1    Sweet          1 - 1     2
Colville       0 - 1     1    C Malawsky     1 - 0     1
Hillier        0 - 1     1    O'Toole        0 - 1     1
                              Turner         0 - 1     1
                              Zaph           0 - 1     1

Shots on goal           55    Shots on goal           47
Saves made by           33    Saves made by           42
   King              33          O'Toole           42
Penalties                8    Penalties                7
Penalty Minutes         16    Penalty Minutes         14
Power Play Chances       6    Power Play Chances       7
Power Play Goals         3    Power Play Goals         3
   Panos              1          Grant              1
   Toth               1          D Jacobs           1
   Wulder             1          Williams           1
Shorthanded Goals        3    Shorthanded Goals        0
   Panos              2          (None)
   J Phillips         1
Loose Balls             94    Loose Balls             97
   J Phillips        14          Sweet             17
   King              10          Soudan            10
   K Goundrey         9          Zaph              10
   Toth               9
Faceoffs Won            11    Faceoffs Won            21
   Sundher      (11-21)          Zaph         (11- 6)
                                 Tapp         (10- 5)

 *** STATS OFFICIAL BY VERIFY WITH ROCHESTER K'HAWKS ***