PK’s NLL Power Rankings - Week 2

1.       Buffalo Bandits – 0-0 (Last Week: 1)

Fresh off the bye, the Bandits look to begin their title defense against their bitter rival, and little Brother, the Rochester Knighthawks. The 2 teams have squared off 8 times in the last 3 years with the Bandits taking 7 of those 8 meetings including a 20-8 playoff victory on their way to their first of 2 back to back titles. The Bandits have not come out of the gate hot the last 2 seasons, dropping their opening game each year. Mind you, both seasons were to the Firewolves, so the Hawks are likely a welcome game 1 foe. Another enormous difference is the health of the team. 2022/23 it was the forwards. 2023/24 it was the defense. At least as of the writing of this article, the team seems healthy and ready to roll into their attempt at a 3 peat.

2.       San Diego Seals – 1-0 (Last Week: 2)

Although the vast majority of people reacting to last week’s Rankings felt the Seals were way too high, they walked away from week 1 of NLL action with the most goals. Newcomers to the team Rob Hellyer (3/3/6), Ryan Benesch (5/4/9), Zach Currier (1/2/3), and Ben McIntosh (4/2/6) combined for 13 of the teams 18 goals while also collecting 11 assists in the process. It’s just one game, but it seems like adding all these “old guys”, as one commenter said, has paid off. Chris Origlieri did not start off on a good note in this one and was pulled early to then return later in the game making just 24 saves for a .667 SV%. Credit Mike Poulin for coming in and settling down the game a bit, which is all you can ask from a veteran backup. The 18-13 win over the Wings also saw the team go a perfect 5-5 on the PP, which when you have the loaded offense that this team does, it likely won’t be the last perfect Power Play night. The 1-0 Seals now travel cross county with a Saturday night date in Georgia.

3.       Rochester Knighthawks – 1-0 (Last Week: 5)

Moving on up 2 spots are the Knighthawks of Rochester who secured a tough 14-12 win over Las Vegas on Saturday night. The game was tied at 7 at half before Vegas would put 2 quick PP goals up in the early 3rd. Rochester would then go on a 4-goal run themselves to take a 2-goal lead. LV would tie it with 11:31 to go in the game before Rochester would score the final 2, blanking the Dogs the rest of the game behind back up Riley Hutchcraft who made 50/62 saves in the start for Rylan Hartley. Connor Fields was up to his normal point producing self, walking away with 10 points on 17 shots, 10 LBs and a CTO to his name. Ryan Smith would score 5 in his 8-point night, while Ryan Lanchbury would score on just 1 of his 11 shots but assisted on 6 of the teams 14 goals. Oh, and if the offense wasn’t deep enough, 2nd year stud Thomas McConvey scored 2 in his quiet 5-point night. The offense is there. The defense is there. There are 2 things that caught my eye after their first game that could hinder the team moving forward. 1st is the health of Hartley. Never good when your starting goalie, who we have talked nonstop about his importance to the team misses game 1. But the 2nd is staying out of the box. 7 PP chances were given to the Desert Dogs Saturday night as well as 62 shots got through to Hutchcraft. If our first concern remains there in Hartley, the team needs to stay out of the box and get into those shooting lanes to block more than 4 shots to help out their netminder.

4.       Albany Firewolves – 0-1 (Last Week: 3)

Down just 1 spot this week are the young Firewolves team after their heartbreaking 10-9 OT defeat vs the Rush Saturday night. It was a back-and-forth affair all night with neither team holding more than a 2-goal lead which lasted less than 2 minutes. Tye Kurtz (1/2/3) tied it up with just 12 seconds left in the 4th to force OT until Austin Shanks ended it with a squeaker past Dougie. The Defending Rookie of the Year Alex Simmons lead all scorers in this one netting 3 to go with his 7 points on 14 shots and 12 LBs. The silent assassin in Ethan Walker went 1/3/4 after not playing in the preseason. Dyson Williams (1/1/2) was quiet in his debut compared to other rookie Will Johansen who spent his whole first year on the shelf. Johansen netted 1 to go along with 9 LBs, a Blocked Shot and 2 CTO in the loss. In Net Jamieson made 43/53 saves including some big-time ones to extend OT. The team travels north of the boarder Saturday to host the 0-1 Rock. Both teams, trying to avoid the nasty 0-2 start which saw just 20% of teams who started that way last year, find their way into the playoffs.

5.       Colorado Mammoth – 1-0 (Last Week: 6)

It took until the 3rd quarter for the Mammoth to wake up from their slumber, but when they did, we saw what this team is capable of with their 11-7 win over Vancouver. Down 6-1 entering the 3rd, Colorado would go on to score 10 of the next 11 goals including all 6 in the 4th quarter. Led by Connor Kelly (4/3/7) and Zed Williams (3/1/4) who scored their combined 7 goals between the 12:34 mark in the 3rd and the 10:03 mark in the 4th. The good times kept rolling when we saw Ryan Lee get his name on the box score with a penalty shot in the final 10 seconds. Dillon Ward looked like vintage Wardo, especially in the 2nd half making 35/42 saves for a .833 SV%. He also got into the head of the Warriors who accounted for 44 of the 49 PIMs assessed in the final 10 seconds of the game. I am higher on Colorado than most people going into this season. Mostly due to their offenses potential and the bounce back season I expect from Ward. While its just 1 game, putting up 10 2nd half goals against what many across the NLL call one of the best defenses in the game, is impressive. After not getting their 2nd win last year until game 6, Colorado looks to move to 2-0 when they travel to Las Vegas on Friday Night.

6.       Saskatchewan Rush – 1-0 (Last Week: 8)

Up 2 spots are the OT heroes in the Rush with their 10-9 win over Albany. It was back and forth all night long where the largest lead of 2 goals lasted less than 2 minutes. Newcomer Austin Shanks scored his 2nd and most important goal of the night midway through OT to give the Rush the victory. Zach Manns scored 4 of the teams 10 goals while rookie Brock Haley scored 2 of his own in his 5-point night. But what I was most interested in is what will have my eye all season long. The play of one Frank Scigliano. As I said in the first rankings and as I will say all year long. Good Frankie will lead this team back to the playoffs. And what a first game of the season he had. 49 saves in the win for a .845 SV%. All of this vs one of the toughest offenses in the league. The team heads into a bye week before hosting Halifax on the 14th.

7.       Ottawa Black Bears – 1-0 (Last Week: 10)

Our biggest riser this week is the Black Bears who move up 3 spots to #7 after their 11-5 thumping of the Rock on Friday night to kick off the season. The team took a 5-0 lead into the 3rd quarter, shutting the Rock out for 35:09 to start the game. Toronto scored 2 to get the game back within 3, until Ottawa would score 5 straight to end the 3rd. There is only one place to start when talking about Ottawa’s win. Zach Higgins. We all said the team got better, adding Higgins to the crease in a big post dispersal draft trade. But I don’t think anyone expected this type of performance to start his Black Bears tenure. 38 saves to go with a .884 SV% including blanking Toronto on the PP 3 times as well as facing a Penalty shot. Although the shot was put wide anyways. You can’t expect this type of play weekly but his presence in net alone, makes Ottawa a legit threat. Jeff Teat (1/4/5), Reilly O’Connor (2/1/3) and Connor Kearnan (3/2/5) were their normal point producing threats. But very few people could have expected the performance of one Jacob Dunbar (3/3/6) who led the team in points. Oh, wait. I am one of those few people. Going into the season I said Dunbar would lead the Righties in scoring for the team and be their 2nd leading point producer. Off to one heck of a start. The team heads into a bye week before hosting the defending champion Bandits Friday the 13th.

8.       Toronto Rock – 0-1 (Last Week: 4)

Way down to #8 are the Rock after a no-show game on Friday night to open NLL action losing 11-5 vs Ottawa. Yes, Ottawa had the added excitement of a new city with new fans. Yes, they were without Challen Rogers, Brad Kri and TD Irelan. All are valued excuses. But what is not a valued excuse is the complete ghost performance from the offense. I will admit, Zach Higgins was incredible. He made some unworldly saves. But Corey Small, no points with 6 shots. Dan Craig, no points on 3 shots. Tom Schrieber, 1 assist with 6 shots. Mark Matthews, 1 assist with 4 shots. The only players who collected more than a point in this one were Chris Bousy and Brian Cameron. I have covered enough games now to not react in either direction after a single game. But this was a team I talked a lot about this offseason when very few changes were made to the lineup and the GM decided to run it back. The defense will get healthy again and be the strength of this team. But as I have been on record saying multiple times now. I do not think this team has the offense to make a deep run and it was a reason I had them projected lower entering the season. The road does not get any easier hosting the 0-1 Firewolves where both teams need to win to avoid that 0-2 start. Last year 5 teams started 0-2. Only 1 made the playoffs.

9.       Georgia Swarm – 0-0 (Last Week: 7)

10.   Vancouver Warriors – 0-1 (Last Week: 9)

11.   Philadelphia Wings – 0-1 (Last Week: 11)

12.   Las Vegas Desert Dogs – 0-1 (Last Week: 14)

13.   Halifax Thunderbirds – 0-0 (Last Week: 12)

14.   Calgary Roughnecks – 0-0 (Last Week: 13)