The buzz appears to be back in Philadelphia.

The Wings kicked off the third iteration of the franchise Saturday by honoring their past, raising banners for the team’s previous championships and acknowledging retired jersey numbers. Though the team clarified on social media that much of that history belongs to New England, the National Lacrosse League season opener had a nostalgic quality.  

You can’t start the next chapter if you keep reading the last one https://t.co/vE1rcSU6SS

— Philadelphia Wings (@NLLwings) December 16, 2018

Final. #WeFlyTogether pic.twitter.com/0zYMXJyNyf

— Philadelphia Wings (@NLLwings) December 15, 2018

Legends of the past were back in Wells Fargo Center. Chopper was behind the penalty box heckling unsuspecting Buffalo players. There was even an old-fashioned Bandits and Wings fight in the closing seconds. All seemed right in the world.

And, perhaps most importantly to Comcast Spectacor, the turnout was very good. Philadelphia got a reported 11,023 fans to show up, a very solid number considering the 1 p.m. start time and that Wings 2.0 averaged 6,854 in 2014, their final season.

Philadelphia’s crowd edged Calgary’s by 219 for the biggest in Week 1.

“I thought it was amazing, the amount of energy the fans produced,” rookie forward Chris Cloutier said. “It was just like Philly never left.”

Not a bad way to start the season.#WeFlyTogether pic.twitter.com/ZC4u8RhP5c

— Philadelphia Wings (@NLLwings) December 15, 2018

On the floor, Philadelphia showed it can hang with the Buffalo Bandits, largely considered the favorite in the East Division after the acquisition of goalie Matt Vinc. The Wings got multi-goal games from Josh Currier, Brett Hickey, Jordan Hall and Cloutier, while Trevor Baptiste showed he could translate his skills to the indoor game by winning 25 of 35 faceoffs.

So even with the 17-15 loss, that opener is a great starting point for the expansion franchise.

“For our first foray back into it, I think it was a pretty good game,” coach and general manager Paul Day said. “We’re a very young team, and we made some young mistakes, but it’s a really good learning experience for us.”

Smith Injury Dampens Bandits Victory

Buffalo’s win came with a heavy price, as Dhane Smith needed to be helped off the floor in the fourth quarter after scoring what appeared to be the game-sealing goal. Smith wasn’t putting any weight on his leg as he was taken to the dressing room. To add insult to injury, the goal was waved off, too.

Vancouver Opens with Statement Win

In Calgary, the Vancouver Warriors looked like a team with something to prove. Newly-named captain Matt Beers scored on a low-to-high shot in overtime to surprisingly lift Vancouver past the rival Roughnecks, 14-13.

“Nobody would have given us a chance to win that game,” Beers said after the game. “We don’t care. It’s all about what’s in the room. We’ve got a lot of heart there.”

No Dickson or Berg for Riggers

For the Roughnecks, the biggest winners of the night were Curtis Dickson and Wes Berg, who are both holding out due to contract disputes. Rhys Duch had a goal and three assists in his first game against his old team.

The Force is Strong with the Swarm

The Georgia Swarm kicked off the season with a victory on Star Wars night, as Randy Staats notched eight points in a 16-12 triumph against the New England Black Wolves. Lyle Thompson and newcomer Holden Cattoni also had big nights, totaling seven points each.

Seth Oakes had five points in his return to the Black Wolves. His three assists are one off his total from last year, accumulated in 10 games.

NLL on Bleacher Report

With the NLL’s addition of Bleacher Report Live as a broadcast partner, I was assessing the NLL’s streams as much as I was the teams. I entered the weekend a bit pessimistic, considering the league hyped up NLL TV last year only for it to look nearly identical to the prior free streams and the fact that B/R Live had been in the news recently for fumbling the Tiger Woods/Phil Mickelson broadcast.

But the NLL boasted heavy financial investment in broadcast improvements this offseason, and through one week, it absolutely shows.

I went into my evaluation with my eye on three categories

• General stream quality

• Appearance as a real television broadcast and not a jumbotron feed

• Graphics packages

I can say the trio of games passed all three categories with flying colors. I saw some complaints about people struggling to get a connection, but I experienced no issues.

It was apparent from the get-go that these weren’t jumbotron feeds and that there were competent directors of each broadcast. Each stream opened with a shot of the broadcasters breaking down key matchups, featuring cutaways to players and graphics that correlated with talking points. The graphics are uniform across the league and slick.

There are multiple camera angles in each barn, which made for some impressive replays.

Georgia was unsurprisingly the weakest when it came to picture quality, seeing as the team doesn’t play in an NHL or NBA arena, but it was still more than passible. The main camera was solid, but the secondary ones were a bit fuzzy.

Georgia was our biggest hurdle of Week 1 when it comes to the poorest streams from last year. We’ll really be out of the woods if Rochester and New England have quality broadcasts as well.

Goal of the Week

Bandits transition player Thomas Hoggarth and forward Josh Byrne executed a sneaky trick shot early in the second quarter, as Byrne shot a pass off the back glass that bounced back to Hoggarth on the other side of the crease. Hoggarth, who matched his goal total from all of 2018 with three against Philadelphia, snagged the ball off the bounce and shot it in the net while diving to give Buffalo a 6-5 lead.

Confirmed. We got an alley-oop in Philly and it’s not by @JoelEmbiid. @NLLBandits lead at the half. pic.twitter.com/GIfQ2DZGi7

— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) December 15, 2018

Week 2 Preview

TORONTO (0-0) at BUFFALO (1-0)
Friday, 7:30 p.m. ET

Offense: Tom Schreiber is back and healthy for the Toronto Rock. He had 13 points in three games against the Bandits last season.

If Smith can’t go for Buffalo, the Bandits have a player very used to running the show in Shawn Evans. He recorded his 1,100th career point this weekend.

Defense: Buffalo needs to clean up some defensive lapses from the first week, which probably isn’t a surprise considering the new pieces that are getting worked in and a short training camp.

The Bandits are wearing their new white throwback jerseys for the first time at home and are giving away matching rally towels to the first 10,000 fans in attendance.

CALGARY (0-1) at VANCOUVER (1-0)
Friday, 10 p.m. ET

Offense: The Roughnecks could use Jesse King, who was a late scratch with an injury on Saturday. Dane Dobbie is trying to make up for the Riggers’ absences. He’s tied with Vancouver’s Logan Schuss and Buffalo’s Evans with a league-leading nine points after Week 1.

Defense: The Warriors mounted a five-goal comeback in the fourth quarter against Calgary thanks to 14 minutes and 32 seconds of shutout action from their defensive unit.

SAN DIEGO (0-0) at COLORADO (0-0)
Saturday, 9 p.m. ET

Offense: First overall pick Austin Staats makes his highly anticipated debut with the Seals. Colorado returns its entire seven-man forward unit from last season.

Defense: Colorado lost Bryce Sweeting and Cam Holding but returns Dan Coates from an ACL injury. San Diego’s Brodie Merrill will play for his brother Patrick for the first time in his NLL career.

This is San Diego president Steve Govett’s first game in Colorado since leaving the Mammoth last year. Colorado lost another member of its front office this week when GM Dan Carey stepped down to take the same role with the 2019 expansion Rochester Knighthawks.