PK’s NLL Power Rankings - Week 14

*Reminder these are Power Rankings. To see the Standings please head to NLL.com

1.       Buffalo Bandits – 8-1 (Last Week: #1)

The revenge was served in this one. After losing to the Seals in OT the week before, The Bandits headed to San Diego on Saturday night with the goal of avoid the sweep. And they did just that. It was the best game off the weekend with no lead greater than two goals. Tre Leclaire tied up the game with 4:49 to go. However, it was Kyle Buchanan (3/1/4) who just 24 second later would net the game winning goal. This was a game to show the rest of the league that they do not have to have Dhane Smith (2/2/4) or Josh Byrne (1/5/6) to go off in order for them to win. Nine different players scored a goal in the win. In net, while the first 3 quarters did not show his best stuff, Matt Vinc was electric in the 4th shutting the door multiple times allowing just 1 goal the final 15 of the game. The defense had their moments of struggles, but I will give them a pass this week as they are working on replacing 2 bigger names in Dylan Robinson and Matt Spanger on the back end. This next weekend though is going to be must see TV. Free up your Saturday night in what could be a preview of the NLL finals with Buffalo heading to Saskatchewan to face the 9-2 Rush.

2.       Saskatchewan Rush – 9-2 (Last Week: #2)

To me, right this moment, there are 4 tiers in the NLL. Buffalo until proven otherwise has to be in tier 1 alone. However, the Rush are alone in tier 2 and that could all change this coming week. But before we look forward, we must reflect on their 9th and league leading win over Vancouver on Friday night. after a close, back and forth 1st half, SAS would go on a 5 goal run to take a commanding 10-4 lead mid-way through the 4th to secure the victory 10-7. It was another game where the offense was spread out with 8 players having multi point nights while only netting 10. Impressive stuff. Although they were going against 12th ranked scoring offense in the league, they were still able to hold Vancouver scoreless for over 33 minutes in this one between the 10:18 mark in the 2nd and the 7:02 mark in the 4th. Now let’s look ahead to a matchup the whole league has had circled for a few weeks now. #1 vs #2. Not just here in the rankings but in the standings as well. The top seed could be on the line for both teams as this will be their only meeting in the regular season. And that could have massive implications if both teams reach the finals with the winner of this game possibly hosting 2 home games. Make sure you free up your Saturday night. 

3.       Halifax Thunderbirds – 6-4 (Last Week: #5)

This is another team I owe an apology too. I believed they would be towards the bottom of the standings and the power rankings all season long. They sit 6-4 and 3rd in the standings, which could be even higher if the ball had bounced a different way at the start of the season. However, the winning continued Friday with their 14-9 win over Ottawa. They held a 7-3 led at half before Ottawa would control the 3rd scoring 5 straight to take a 1 goal lead. But Halifax would score the final 7 of 8 goals to take the victory. Only 6 players scored in this one and of those, 3 were transition player who accounted for 6 of the 14 goals. That has been one of the biggest differences in this team and their winning ways. The transition game has been electric led by goal scoring machine Ryan Terefenko who netted yet another hatrick making it 11 goals in 4 games. The biggest change we have seen though has been in net. Warren Hill has been a man on a mission to prove he can be the franchise leader between the pipes. Struggling to start the year, he has now won 4 games in a row and has a GAA below 10 and a save % at 80 in his last 5 games. The team heads to Vegas on Saturday night with a date in the den.

4.       Georgia Swarm – 6-4 (Last Week: #7)

All I can say is they are very lucky to be where they are in the standings and in the rankings here. In what was one of the best games of the weekend, Georgia held a 10-8 lead with 6:40 remaining in the game. Corey Small put the Rock on his back with the game-tying goal just 27 seconds remaining in the game. 6:28 went off the OT clock until Miles Thompson (2/1/3) put in the game winner from an impossible angle. While the team only scored 11, which is right around their teams average, I was pleased to see the performance of Shayne Jackson who had his best game of the year netting 3 on a 6 point night. Another player who had their best game of the year was Brett Dobson in net making 55/65 saves in the victory. It wasn’t just big to get a win and push the Rock further out of the playoff race. But with 9 teams sitting at 5 or 6 wins, being in that 6 win grouping is massive with 8 games remaining on the schedule. While I am still not a believer this team can be a legit threat in the playoffs, in a 1 game matchup, Dobson has the ability to steal you a game which is what we saw Saturday night. The team heads north to the capital region for a date with the Black Bears on Friday night.

5.       Calgary Roughnecks – 6-5 (Last Week: #4)

With a chance to pull ahead and separate themselves a bit from the group of 9 and move to 7-4 on the year, Calgary came out flat vs Rochester and drops to 6-5 with a 15-10 loss Saturday night. Calgary fell down 3-0 early in the game and 10-5 at half. Curtis Dickson seemed like one of the only guys who showed up to perform in the game going 4/5/9 on the night. However, my focus goes back to the continued problems in net. Besides the two games vs Ottawa and Vancouver, we have not seen a reliable performance from the goaltenders this season. And we can really only take those two games with a grain of salt because their offenses are ranked 12th and 14th in the league. They brought in Gowah Abrams to try and help but he struggled in this one making just 6/11 saves. Cam MacLeod went just 29/39. In my opinion sitting behind a computer typing these words, they did not have a starting goalie that is capable of getting this team to a playoff win. That is why the team went out and made a deal to bring in defending goalie of the year Nick Rose. While I do not believe this move puts them over the top, I do believe this move puts them in the conversation come playoff time. They get a must win matchup Saturday night vs Colorado.

6.       Colorado Mammoth – 6-5 (Last Week: #3)

When you lose to one of the teams at the bottom, it’s going to drop you in the rankings no question. Colorado was doubled up vs Vegas as they head home with a 14-7 loss to their name. The Mammoth actually held a led after 15 in this one. However, the Dogs would score all of the goals in the 2nd and the first 3 in the 3rd to take control of the game 9-2. At one point in the 4th, Vegas had a 9 minute power play. And to make matters worse, it sounds like Zed Williams is hurt and will miss time with a serious injury. Will Malcolm led the way with a 2/4/6 night but the rest of the offense, which I had such high hopes for entering the season, could not find an answer to beat Landon Kells. Ryan Lee, Connor Kelly, Eli McLaughlin and Connor Robinson accounted for 4 goals with 6 assists while shooting just 4/29 on the night. On the season Vegas is allowing 14.09 goals a game. Colorado generated 7. Regardless of how the defense and goaltending performed, you will not win games scoring 7 goals on a night. They host Calgary on Saturday night in a must win game considering how tight the race for the playoffs is. But considering the team is winning every other game, I’d put my money on the Mammoth this week.

7.       San Diego Seals – 5-6 (Last Week: #6)

Dropping down just 1 might not even be fair to the Seals considering it was vs the Bandits and they were without a lot of big name players. Ryan Benesch, Matt Wright, Trevor Baptiste, Kyle Rubisch, Patrick Shoemay, Jesse Gamble were all injured in this one and Zach Currier was away from the team to welcome his new baby into the world. So dropping the game 13-12 is actually an impressive feat. In a game that was back and forth all night, it was Tre Leclaire (4/1/5) and Dylan Watson (3/3/6) who led the way for the offense. However, the team, per Adam Levi, had 95 shots in the game and only 50 were on target. And it showed with 45 shot completely missing the mark. In net ,Chris Origlieri made some critical stops. The Bandits are known to go on 5-6-7 goal runs and the longest of the game was 3. He made 39/52 saves in the loss. The team heads into their bye week before hosting Vancouver the week after. The Seals are in the big group of nine with 5 or 6 wins. Only 2 of their next 7 come against teams currently in a playoff spot so the Seals are a team to track down the stretch.

8.       Rochester Knighthawks – 5-7 (Last Week: #11)

This was another week I could not decide who was going to be in my 8th spot. I decided to give Rochester another crack at the top 8 with the full expectation of being let down the following week. They traveled to Calgary Saturday night and took it to the Roughnecks who did not seem ready to play. From start to finish, the team dominated in all aspects of the game. 8 players accounted for at least 1 goal and multiple points in the win. In addition, Rylan Hartley had his best performance of the year making 42/51 saves. While it is an impressive win, it’s also very frustrating from the outside looking in because of how skilled and talented this team is from top down and yet they have been underperforming for the year. While having played a league high 12 games, they have ground to make up in the standings with just six games to do so. The magic number to me is 9 or 10 wins. Meaning to get in they need to go 4-2 or 5-1 down the stretch. They have Ottawa twice, Albany, Vegas, Toronto, and San Diego. Just Ottawa is currently in a playoff position. While they have a lot of work to do, I am not counting them out just yet. They host Albany on Friday night in a must win game.

9.       Vancouver Warriors – 5-6 (Last Week: #9)

10.   Philadelphia Wings – 5-6 (Last Week: #8)

11.   Ottawa Black Bears – 5-5 (Last Week: #10)

12.   Toronto Rock – 3-8 (Last Week: #12)

13.   Albany Firewolves – 3-8 (Last Week: #13)

14.   Las Vegas Desert Dogs – 3-8 (Last Week: #14)