PK’s NLL Power Rankings - Week 9

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

1.       Buffalo Bandits – 5-0 (Last Week: #1)

9 Power Rankings in, and the only consistent thing each week is who comes in the top spot. The 2 time defending champs remain undefeated as they took out the #2 team in the league, the Philly Wings 19-14. The first half was an on slot of goals with the Bandits leading 13-5 including a run of 5 in just 3:21. A 6-goal run from the Wings between the 3rd and 4th lasting 5:21 saw the lead be trimmed to 16-13. However, the Bandits would score 3 of the final 4 including shutting the Wings out for the final 7:26 of the game. Josh Byrne had a career night going 7/5/12 while Chase Fraser had his best outing of the season going 3/4/7. What is amazing and likely a credit to how incredible he is as a player, Dhane Smith went 1/9/10 on the night and is rarely being mentioned in the game. 16/18 players who saw time on the field, including Matt Vinc, walked away with a point on the night. While the numbers do not back it up, Vinc was 36/50 on the night making multiple huge saves to keep the Bandits in the lead. There are not very many negatives we can talk about with this team. They lead the league in scoring and goals against. They have the 2 highest per game point producing players in Smith and Byrne. If they can use the bye to get Zack Belter and Justin Martin back on defense, that fixes one of the negatives for the team. The only other one I see is their PP unit, which ranks tied for 10th in the league at 38%. They head into their 4th of 5 bye weeks. Reminder this team has 12 games in 10 weeks to finish up the year so stacking these wins early is very important.

2.       Philadelphia Wings – 5-2 (Last Week: #3)

A long weekend for the Wings see them go 1-1, scoring 28 goals in the process. Saturday night they battled with the Bandits and fell 19-14. Down 13-5 at half, the team used a 6-goal run between the 3rd and 4th to get the game to 16-13 before Bandits would score the final 3 of 4. Holden Cattoni was 3/5/8, while Joe Resetarits was 2/6/8 and Mitch Jones went 2/5/7. We expected this high scoring game out of the two highest scoring teams in the league. Nick Damude was not strong in the 1st being pulled 2 times, but battled back and played well in the second making 36/50 saves. Credit to the Wings as they battled back in this one and made it a game. They got an extra days rest with the Monday game being moved to Monday and used it to their advantage winning vs Vancouver 14-13. Losing 10-7 early in the 3rd, another 6 goal run between the 3rd and 4th was the difference in this one. Vancouver would score the final 3 of 4, but it did not matter in the end. Jones was on fire going 5/6/11 capping off an 18-point week. Resetarits was 3/6/9 in the win with a 17-point weekend himself. Damude bounced back having a solid game going 43/56 in the victory. The Wings sit 5-2 heading into break. They remain 2nd in the league in scoring at 14.57. However, a big February month is ahead as they play all 4 weekends vs Rochester, Albany and Halifax in a home in home in back to back weekends. Those 3 teams currently are below .500 and looking in at the playoffs so it will be important to stack wins as 5 of the 7 matchups to end the season are against teams at .500 or better.

3.       Ottawa Black Bears – 4-2 (Last Week: #6)

Although it was just a one goal victory on Friday night, I think it’s time that we start looking at this Ottawa team a lot different than we had from the team that played in New York. The Bears won 9-8 over the Warriors in one of the many games that were tied at half. Ottawa would score three in the 3rd and the first in the 4th to take a 9-5 lead with 9:11 to go. Vancouver would score three straight in the 4th to cut the lead to one, but that would be as close as they’d come to tying the game up. Larson Sundown pumped in 4 and now has 7 in his last 2 games. Jeff Teat, while having a quieter season than we are used to seeing, went 2/4/6 on the night. While Kiel Matisz assisted 4 times on his 5-point night. However, I think the main reason the Black Bears are sitting 4-2 on this season is due to the play of one Zach Higgins. He went 41/49 in this one making incredible saves once again. He leads the league in GAA at 9.46 and is tied with Matt Vinc with an 81 sv%. The team is 2nd in the league with a 9.67 GAA and if you exclude the 18 spot Buffalo put up, they are sitting at an 8 GAA. Although they are 13th in the league with 9.67 GPG, let us look at the goalies they have had to face so far and where they rank in GAA. Rose twice (T9th), Vinc (2nd), Origlieri (6th), Dobson (T9th), and most recently Walsh (4th). They get Walsh and Vancouver again this weekend, but after that, some of the matchups should allow their goal scorers to finally unleash.

4.       Colorado Mammoth - 4-3 (Last Week: #2)

As I said many times last week to some COL fans, winning back to back weekends vs the same team is very difficult to do. This week it was Albany who fought back, while being a much smaller comeback, to take the win, 13-10. Colorado held a 1-goal lead heading into the 4th, until Albany would score 6 of the final 8 to take the win. Will Malcom (4/2/6) and Ryan Lee (3/4/7) were the main offense scoring 7 of the teams 10 goals. Connor Robinson, Eli McLaughlin and Connor Kelly all remained relatively quiet scoring the other 3 goals but coming on a combined 24 shots. Dillon Ward played very solid making 45/57 saves on the night. This has been a team that has started slow in the games but this week, that was not the issue. While I still have full confidence in the offense who are 4th in the league in scoring, I think they need to go out and add a player on the back end to help in front of Ward. They head to Rochester Saturday night to try to stay above .500. The next few games are important to stack wins as 3 of 4 opponents are on the outside of the playoffs looking in and their final 7 matchups are against opponents over .500 on the year.

5.       Saskatchewan Rush 4-2 (Last Week: #4)

Someone was bound to be the first to lose to Toronto. Rush fans were just hoping they could have been the team to avoid that. But alas, they dropped just their 2nd of the season 11-8 vs a very hungry and healthier Rock team. Tied 5 at half, TOR would score 4 straight in the 3rd to take a 9-6 lead into the 4th where they would trade goals back and forth. Ryan Keenan continued his hot streak going 2/4/6 on the night while Robert Church went 2/2/4. However, the rest of the offense was relatively quiet including Zach Manns who had a rare 1/1/2 off night. One positive was the continued great season the dispersal draftee Matt Hossack has had. An assist along with 7LBs, and 4 CTO in the loss, but is sitting in 1st in the league with 20 CTO. Frank Scigliano went 43/53 on the night continuing to be the steady presence in net all season long. He carries a 9.57 GAA, which is 3rd in the league and an 80 sv% which is tied for 3rd. With how well and consistent he has been playing, SAS has a chance to win every single game they play. They just need their offense to be as consistent as this is the 4th game scoring 11 or fewer goals. They have a date with Albany this weekend in a rematch from their OT win in week 1 of the season.

6.       Calgary Roughnecks – 3-2 (Last Week: #10)

Calgary used more OT Heroics to win over Georgia 12-11 on Haiden Dickson’s goal 3:26 into OT. Georgia went on a 4-goal run in the 3rd to pull ahead 10-7 but Calgary would go on a 4 of 5 run to tie the game in regulation. All this while going 0-4 on the PP. Curtis Dickson (3/2/5) and Dan Dobbie (3/1/4) combined for 6 of the teams 12 goals in the victory while Jesse King netted 2 others in his 5-point night. Rookie Brayden Mayea continues to produce in this offense going 1/4/5, adding another offensive weapon to the mix. Cam MacLeod was not asked to do too much in this one making 29/40 saves, but came up big allowing just 1-goal in the final 22:03 of the game. Sitting 3-2 on the year so far, they have started much better than I expected them too. Their offense is close to what I expected out of them this season with the re-additions of Dickson and Dobbie. As is the back end with the loss of Shane Simpson, Zach Currier, Seth Van Schepen and of course Christian Del Bianco. All 5 games have been decided by 4 or fewer goals and 3 have been 1 goal games. I am still not a believer that this team can be a threat come playoff time, but if the defense and MacLeod can continue to grow together, I have been proven wrong in the past. They get a healthier Rock team Friday night at home.

7.       Vancouver Warriors – 3-3 (Last Week: #5)

It was not the weekend Vancouver fans were hoping for after seeing their team out to a 3-1 record. First their travel to the capital region saw them drop the first game of week 8, 9-8. Tied 5 at half, Ottawa would score 4 straight in the 2nd to take a 9-5 lead. VAN would rally, but fall a goal short in this one. Riley Loewen and Kevin Crowley accounted for 5 of the teams 8 goals. Moreover, while Owen Grant continues to make a name for himself in this league going 1/2/3 with 7 LBs and 2 CTO, it was not enough in this one. Aden Walsh continued to live up to his part making 34/43 saves in the loss. On top of 2 games in 1 weekend, both were on the road and the once Sunday game was moved to Monday making the trip and week that much longer. Vancouver would drop another 1-goal game, 14-13. Down 6-3 early in the 2nd, the Warriors would score 5 straight to carry a 1 goal lead into half. After 6 straight by Philly to take a 13-10 lead mid-way through the 4th, Vancouver’s rally fell short once again dropping them to 3-3 on the year. Adam Charalambides had his best game of the year going 5/4/9. Keegan Bal was 2/6/8, Crowley had 5 helpers and Grant pumped in 2 more. Walsh was not as strong in this one going 29/43 going against the league’s 2nd highest scoring team.  Going 1/7 on the Power Play doesn’t help their case either.The team is back home Friday night in a rematch vs Ottawa to try and stop from falling below .500.

8.       Georgia Swarm 4-3 (Last Week: #8)

The losing streak has now hit 3 after their 12-11 OT loss to Calgary Saturday night. Tied 6 at half, Georgia went on a 4 goal run in the 3rd to build a 3-goal lead. However, Calgary would score 5 of the final 6 including the OT winner to take it. Georgia was held to 1 goal in the final 22:03 of the game as their offensive woes continue. Lyle Thompson was 3/3/6 on the night continuing to be consistent. Andrew Kew bounced back after a rough game the week before to go 1/6/7 on the night. While Shayne Jackson showed a pulse going 2/1/3. But this team just lacks something on offense as I have said for years now. They are tied for 10th in the league at 11 goals a game. Brett Dobson was 39/51 in net on the night and remains solid, but not top tier. He currently ranks 9th in GAA at 11.52 and 8th with a 77 sv%. The 4 game winning streak they were on to start the season is a distant memory now. This is not me burying this team at all. They are still a good team and one that I believe will be in the playoffs. Nevertheless, changes need to be made whither it be from an outside addition or changes within the locker room to get this addressed, because the road does not get much easier. They are on a bye before taking on Vegas in an attempt to break the drought. But 7 of their final 11 games are against teams currently .500 or better.

9.       Rochester Knighthawks – 3-5 (Last Week: #11)

10.   San Diego Seals – 3-4 (Last Week: #7)

11.   Halifax Thunderbirds – 2-4 (Last Week: #9)

12.   Albany Firewolves – 2-5 (Last Week: #12)

13.   Las Vegas Desert Dogs – 2-5 (Last Week: #13)

14.   Toronto Rock – 1-5 (Last Week: #14)