The Buffalo Bandits felt good about their chances of beating the Philadelphia Wings after the third quarter of Friday night's game. They had taken a 9-7 lead, their largest of the night, and the Wings hadn't scored in the preceding 15 minutes.

Then, as Buffalo (2-1) forward Chad Culp put it, the Bandits played their "worst quarter this year."

No one was arguing with Culp's analysis. Philadelphia (2-1) outscored Buffalo, 6-1, in the final 15 minutes, and took a 13-10 decision before 14,492 in First Niagara Center.

"We seemed sloppy tonight," Mark Steenhuis said. "We didn't pick up loose balls, missed shots and passes.

"We were just fighting it all night. When that happens, you don't get those loose balls."

Even so, the Wings' fourth-quarter emergence came as something of a surprise. Philadelphia hadn't shown the ability to go on any sort of run in the first three quarters of the game. When it finally did, the run was decisive.

Pat Heim and Drew Westervelt got the Wings back into a 9-9 tie within the first minutes of the fourth quarter. Steenhuis put Buffalo back ahead shortly after that, but it proved to be only a temporary reprieve. Dan Dawson tied the score at 10-10, and Westervelt put the Wings in front for keeps with 5:56 left.

Brendan Mundorf scored an important power-play goal with a little under four minutes left to make it a two-goal game. That changed the complexion of the final minutes; Brodie Merrill supplied the exclamation point with an empty-netter.

"They were shooting well in the fourth quarter," Buffalo goalie Mike Thompson said. "They just kept coming at us, and burying their chances.

"It felt a little bit like I had holes in my arms or something."

Mundorf finished with four goals. He was third on the team in scoring last season, and it seems like he saves some of his best performances when he sees the Bandits.

"In our first game his shot was off," Wings coach Johnny Mouradian said. "He was dialing it in the shootaround this morning. And he was able to set up some others tonight [four assists]. We worked hard to get guys open."

Dawson had a goal and seven assists for Philadelphia.

Fans definitely need a program to figure out who is playing for the Wings these days. They made massive changes in their roster for the second season in a row in an effort to end a stretch of mediocrity. Philadelphia hasn't made the playoffs since 2008.

"Our franchise needs to turn things around," Mouradian said. "We had about 18 new players last year, and eight new ones this year."

The biggest names are Dawson, who came from Boston in the dispersal draft, and Kevin Crowley, the first overall draft choice last fall.

"We only got to see a couple of games on video," Thompson said. "We tried to be more focused on where they were. They have three strong righties [right-handed forwards]."

While the Bandits let the game get away on the scoreboard in the fourth quarter, they had some clues along the way that it might prove to be a difficult night.

Buffalo had a five-minute power play late in the first quarter, but only scored one goal. It was the same story in the second quarter, and the Wings even threw in a short-handed goal by Mundorf.

"We had our chances," Bandits coach Darris Kilgour said. "If we had gotten three or four goals in those situations, it might have been a different game. But we'll never know."

Even so, the Bandits kept things close and went into the locker room tied at 7-7. Steenhuis said team members said at halftime that it had 30 minutes to prove itself, but it only did so in the first 15 of those minutes.

Kilgour wouldn't call the night "disappointing" after the game.

"I'd rather learn some lessons now than in the playoffs," he said. "We obviously don't want to lose at home, but we didn't play our best game. We had the lead and let it get away. It's all correctable."

The Bandits were off to Minnesota today for a game with the Swarm (8 p.m., nll.com, Radio 1520 AM). Thompson is expecting another difficult matchup.

"Everybody is strong in this league," he said. "Anyone can be awesome."

bbailey@buffnews.comnull