Gee Nash turned in his sharpest goaltending of the season and the Colorado Mammoth caught fire in a fourth-quarter burst Saturday for a dramatic 8-7 victory over the San Jose Stealth before a sold-out crowd at the Pepsi Center.
Nash stopped eight point-blank shots among his 33 saves, and Jamie Hanford won a trio of faceoffs to set up the scoring in a 55-second span for an 8-5 lead that held up. Colorado (4-3) is in the thick of the National Lacrosse League Western Division race at the all-star break.
The goalie-dominated game contrasted sharply with Colorado’s last outing, an 18-17 overtime decision against division leader Arizona.
“That’s the NLL,” Mammoth coach Gary Gait said. “That’s the way it is.”
Anthony Cosmo, the Stealth goalie, has limited Colorado to 15 goals in two games, but with the win the Mammoth clinched the series with San Jose 2-1.
“This is now two games that we’ve been smarter than the other team in the second half,” Gait said. “We made better decisions and took less penalties. Both teams made mistakes, but we made fewer mistakes.”
Ben Prepchuk, who had a two-goal game for the first time since leaving the team in 2004 to concentrate on his college studies, credited his pick-setting teammates, part of new systems Gait installed before the Arizona game.
“The key is getting goalies out of position, making defenses work so they’re tired – that’s all part of the systems,” Gait said.
Gait chatted extensively with Nash last week after pulling him for Chris Levis with the score tied 7-7 at halftime of last weekend’s Arizona game.
“I just had the gut feeling to switch it up at halftime, looking at past results,” Gait said. “In our talk this week, I said, ‘You’re the man, you’re No 1. Go ahead and play.’ And he did. He was unbelievable.”
Nash credited his defenders with slowing the Stealth (2-4).
“I think Gee’s one of the best goaltenders in the league,” San Jose’s Cam Woods said. “I knew he’d come around. We need to produce more goals, but the effort was there. This is probably the most difficult arena to win in with 18,000 people screaming.”
Before what proved to be the game-winning goal, John Gallant told Josh Sims to run toward the net. Sims was able to secure the faceoff controlled by Hanford and whip a pass to Nick Carlson, who was stationed right in front of Cosmo. As with the other two fourth-quarter goals – scored by Mammoth newcomer Gewas Schindler and Jay Jalbert – Cosmo was beaten over his right shoulder.
San Jose 1 1 3 2 – 7
Colorado 3 0 2 3 – 8
San Jose – Zywicki 2 goals-1 assist-3 points; Boyle 0-3-3, Fines 2-0-2, Malawsky 1-1-2, Woods 1-1-2, Sedgwick 1-0-1, Martin 0-1-1.
Colorado – Prout 1-3-4, Prepchuk 2-0-1, Carlson 2-0-2, Gill 1-1-2, Jalbert 1-0-1, Schindler 1-0-1, Carey 0-1-1, Stroup 0-1-1, Langtry 0-1-1, Coyle 0-1-1, Sims 0-1-1.
Goalkeepers – San Jose, Cosmo 48-shots, 40-saves; Colorado, Nash 40-shots, 33-saves.
A – 18,027.
