Mohegan - With five rookies making the roster out of New England Black Wolves training camp, the first-year National Lacrosse League franchise was especially happy to get veteran forward Brett Bucktooth in a high-profile free agent signing.

Bucktooth, 31, who played last year for the Vancouver Stealth, had a career-high 18 goals and 25 assists in 2014. He's competed in 11 NLL playoff games during the course of his career.

"That was the original intent. Bring in leadership, bring in somebody who can score four goals on a given day," Black Wolves coach Blane Harrison said.

Bucktooth suffered a torn meniscus in camp, however, and underwent surgery a month ago. He played his first game Sunday in front of 3,558 fans at Mohegan Sun Arena, finishing with four goals in a 15-10 loss to the three-time defending champion Rochester Knighthawks.

The Knighthawks won 15-10 Saturday night in Buffalo, as well, before taking a bus to Mohegan Sun and arriving at about 10:30 a.m. for the 6 p.m. game.

Rochester, beaten 17-7 by the Black Wolves last time they were in the arena, also withstood a physical game featuring 27 penalties, 20 in the first half for a total of 76 minutes, to hold off the Black Wolves.

Rochester (4-3) climbed into second place in the Eastern Division standings behind Toronto with the back-to-back wins and handed New England (2-3) its third straight defeat. The Black Wolves are now in last place in the division.

"We're kind of behind a little bit with the influx of leadership," Harrison said of Bucktooth's injury.

"It's a long season," Bucktooth said. "It's only my first game back. There's going to be a chemistry we need to build. … It's great to be a part of a nice, young team like that. That's the new way in the league, bigger, stronger, faster; it definitely made me train a little bit harder."

Matt Vinc made 38 saves for Rochester and Cody Jamieson and Cory Vitarelli each had three goals and two assists.

Bucktooth was the only one to score more than one goal for New England, although Pat Saunders and Kevin Buchanan added four assists each.

The Black Wolves came within 11-10 on Bucktooth's fourth goal of the game with 9 minutes, 54 seconds remaining, with New England pulling goalie Evan Kirk for the possession to try to generate some extra offense, before Rochester rallied with four consecutive goals to end the game.

Bucktooth's first goal for his new team tied the score at 3-3 with 2:26 remaining in the first quarter, as Bucktooth, behind the net, caught a lob pass over the defense from Kevin Crowley and dove around the right side of the net to beat Vinc.

Trailing 6-4, the Wolves scored twice in a row, the second on an electrifying goal with .5 seconds remaining in the half after a pair of behind-the-back passes found Kyle Buchanan, who made it 6-6.

Rochester scored the first two goals following halftime.

Aside from getting Bucktooth back, one of the most memorable things Sunday was a first-quarter fight between New England defender Bill O'Brien and Rochester forward Stephen Keogh.

Upon review of the play, O'Brien - who is 6-foot-4 and weighs 235 pounds - received a game misconduct, marching first to the penalty box, then to the Black Wolves locker room after the penalty, which carries an ejection.

That meant New England spent the rest of the game with only eight available defenders, Harrison said, eventually wearing the team down.

The Black Wolves are also missing rookie forward Quinn Powless (6-2, 220), out indefinitely with an injury.

In New England's two wins to open the season, Powless was a player who set picks for the team's scorers, an "unselfish" player, Harrison called him.

"We need guys who are going to take on that role," Harrison said. "We need guys (on offense) to be more aggressive, not just be perimeter guys."

The Black Wolves have a pair of games next weekend, playing at Toronto at 7:30 p.m. Friday and at home against Colorado at 1 p.m. Sunday.

v.fulkerson@theday.com

Twitter: @vickieattheday