In a rousing comeback from a four-goal, third-quarter deficit Saturday night, Colorado’s defensemen killed one last penalty and goaltender Andrew Leyshon stoned hard-shooting left-hander Dane Dobbie with 12 seconds remaining to preserve the Mammoth’s 13-12 victory over previously undefeated Calgary.
The victory, before 17,712 at the Pepsi Center, increased the Mammoth’s win streak to three games and moved Colorado (4-2) into second place in the National Lacrosse League’s West Division, one game behind the Roughnecks (5-1).
The injury-riddled Mammoth gained contributions from all corners, with defensemen Matt Leveque and Tom Ethington scoring, rookie Tyler Crompton netting two goals, and defender Jed Prossner moving to forward and scoring twice.
“They’re a very good team, so we knew we had to work hard and play gritty, hard-nosed lacrosse,” Ethington said. “No one wanted to be a superstar. We wanted to play hard every shift.”
The forwards followed their lead with Brian Langtry racking up a game-high seven points and captain Gavin Prout scoring his only goal to give Colorado its first lead with 6:31 left.
Moments earlier, Prout battled through a wild scramble for the ball, emerging from a pack of players with it and moving it up the floor to Bryan Safarik, who was stopped and passed back to Prout, who unleashed his signature blast from dead center.
Colorado seemed doomed by a five-minute major penalty incurred by Leveque in the second quarter and headed for a loss again when Jamie Shewchuk and Bruce Murray committed late penalties, giving the Roughnecks a two-man advantage with 1:40 to go.
Josh Sanderson used that advantage to score with 54 seconds left, but the Roughnecks could not send it into overtime.
Calgary 3 5 2 2 — 12
Colorado 3 3 2 5 — 13
Calgary — Dobbie (3-goals,3-assists-6 points), Toth 2-3-5, Sanderson 2-3-5, Ranger 2-2-4, Malwasky 2-2-4, Kelusky 1-4-5, Wray 0-2-2.
Colorado — Langtry 3-4-7, Prossner 2-1-3, Crompton 2-0-2, Shewchuk 2-0-2, Prout 1-4-5, Rosyski 1-3-4, Ethington 1-1-2, Leveque 1-0-1, Safarik 0-2-2, Ward 0-1-1, Murray 0-1-1 Carlson 0-1-1, Gallant 0-1-1, Danowski 0-1-1.
Goaltenders — Calgary, Campbell, 25 saves; King, three saves; Colorado, Leyshon, 39 saves.
