A crowd of 8,537 fans left HSBC Arena Sunday afternoon wondering if the Buffalo Bandits' slide would ever end, after watching the Philadelphia Wings defeat the Bandits, 17-15.

The loss was Buffalo's fourth straight and sixth in seven games, ending the regular season at 8-8 after an impressive 7-2 start. The Bandits must await the outcome of next week's Rochester-Toronto game to know if they will host a playoff game.

Philadelphia improves to 7-9, but will miss out on the postseason for the second straight year.

The Wings were red hot to open to the game. A minute and a half after the opening faceoff, Andrew Guindon put the ball in the net while his team was playing shorthanded, Brian Tower increased that lead to 2-0 ninety seconds later, and Ryan Ward added a third Wings goal before Buffalo could finally get on the board.

Mark Steenhuis put the ball past starting netminder Nick Schroeder at 4:46, cutting the Wings' lead to just two goals, but Dan Marohl beat Bandits starting goaltender Derek General to reclaim the three-goal cushion.

John Tavares lit the lamp next, but was followed by Ward and Kevin Galbraith, for a 6-2 Philadelphia lead. Jeff Ratcliffe and Mike Accursi traded goals late in the first quarter, leaving the Wings ahead by a 7-3 margin.

Bandits fans got a glimmer of hope when the second quarter began with three Buffalo goals in the first four minutes of play. Steenhuis, Jonas Derks and defenseman Andy Ogilvie each netted a goal to bring the Bandits within a goal of tying the game at 7-6.

However, Peter Jacobs, Tom Marechek and Ratcliffe increased the Wings' lead to 10-6 with just over five minutes to play before intermission.

A.J. Shannon scored the last goal of the half for Buffalo and the Bandits went to the locker room down by three, 10-7.

Derks and Ratcliffe traded goals to open the third stanza, and then Derks and Tower did the same just before mid-quarter.

Jeff Spano netted another shorthanded goal for the Wings, at 9:16, when Bryan Barrett was sent to the sin bin for interference, but Jason Clark managed to get a goal on the power play and bring the Bandits back within three, 13-10.

Neither team scored for the next six minutes, until Ratcliffe netted his fourth of the day three seconds before the end of the third quarter. Buffalo then had a 14-10 deficit to overcome and only fifteen minutes left to do it in.

Much like the second quarter, the Bandits opened the fourth with three straight goals, from Roy Colsey, Tavares and Steenhuis, in the first six and a half minutes.

Less than thirty seconds later, though, Tower gave the Wings back their two-goal lead, and Spencer Martin increased that lead to three at 7:16.

Ogilvie and Martin each added their second goals of the afternoon to make the score 17-14 with three and a half minutes left to play, and Tavares scored the final goal, shorthanded, with twenty seconds to play.

Marechek led the Wings with seven points (one goal, six assists), with Jeff Ratcliffe close behind at six points (four goals, two assists).

Tavares had five goals and three assists for eight points for the Bandits while Mark Steenhuis finished the game with seven points (three goals, four assists).

In goal, Schroeder faced 52 Buffalo shots, stopping 37. At the other end, Derek General faced the majority of Philadelphia’s forty shots, stopping 23 and allowing 14 to pass for goals. Steve Dietrich put ten minutes in between the pipes for Buffalo, allowing three goals and making no saves.

BOX SUMMARY
                                      1  2  3  4     TOT
Philadelphia Wings (7-9)              7  3  4  3  --  17
Buffalo Bandits (8-8)                 3  4  3  5  --  15

PHILADELPHIA WINGS            BUFFALO BANDITS
               G - A   PTS                   G - A   PTS
Marechek       1 - 6     7    Tavares        3 - 5     8
Ratcliffe      4 - 2     6    Steenhuis      3 - 4     7
Ward           2 - 3     5    Derks          3 - 1     4
Marohl         1 - 4     5    Accursi        1 - 2     3
Tower          3 - 1     4    Ogilvie        2 - 0     2
Bergey         0 - 4     4    J Clark        1 - 1     2
S Martin       2 - 1     3    Colsey         1 - 1     2
Galbraith      1 - 1     2    Powless        0 - 2     2
Jacobs         1 - 1     2    Shannon        1 - 0     1
Nadelen        0 - 2     2    R Kilgour      0 - 1     1
Guindon        1 - 0     1    McCready       0 - 1     1
Spano          1 - 0     1    
Brzeski        0 - 1     1    

Shots on goal           40    Shots on goal           52
Saves made by (GA)      37    Saves made by (GA)      23
   Schroeder (15)    37          General (14)      23
                                 Dietrich (3)       0
Penalties               19    Penalties               13
Penalty Minutes         52    Penalty Minutes         46
Power Play Chances       4    Power Play Chances      10
Power Play Goals         3    Power Play Goals         5
   Jacobs             1          Derks              2
   S Martin           1          Tavares            2
   Ratcliffe          1          J Clark            1
Shorthanded Goals        3    Shorthanded Goals        3
   Guindon            1          Ogilvie            2
   Marohl             1          Tavares            1
   Spano              1
Loose Balls             75    Loose Balls            106
   Jacobs            15          Steenhuis         16
   Hajek              8          Tavares           14
   Nadelen            7          Derks             13
Faceoffs Won            19    Faceoffs Won            15
   Jacobs       (17-14)          R Kilgour    (13-16)
   Nadelen      ( 2- 1)          Accursi      ( 2- 3)

  *** STATS OFFICIAL BY VERIFY WITH BUFFALO BANDITS ***