On their feet, roaring for seven minutes and 42 seconds of tense sudden-death overtime Saturday night, the 16,189 fans at the Pepsi Center suddenly went eerily quiet. With Colorado goal-tender Andrew Leyshon lying in the crease after stopping Jeff Zywicki’s blast, the rebound rolled toward rookie sensation Rhys Duch, who buried it over the prone Leyshon, endangering the playoff possibilities of the Mammoth.
Since its arrival in 2003, the Mammoth never has missed the National Lacrosse League playoffs. But after the 11-10 loss to San Jose, the Mammoth (6-9) needs to defeat Edmonton (5-10) in the regular-season finale Friday at home to advance.
Leyshon made five of his 50 saves in overtime, but his teammates’ opportunities in the extra session were limited to a pair of shots, only one of high quality. Colorado did not have the passing to cutters, and one-on-one moves were stymied by a physical Stealth defense.
“Once it gets into overtime I don’t know if it is panic or if we’re just trying so hard and it goes to the character thing, they don’t want to lose and they’re almost trying to take it upon themselves to win it for us,” coach Bob McMahon said. “We didn’t have people moving.”
Colorado led 8-6 going into the fourth quarter. But NLL points leader Colin Doyle brought his team back with three of its four fourth-quarter goals, including the one that forced overtime with 21.8 seconds remaining. “Doyle puts it on his shoulders in the fourth quarter. He’s a superstar,” McMahon said.
Moments earlier, with 51.3 seconds left, Mammoth fans thought Chris Gill had won the game when he burst off the bench to catch Bryan Safarik’s transition pass for his team-leading fourth goal and a 10-9 lead. “It is frustrating,” Gill said, “but we still have a chance next week.”
The game was tied three times in the fourth quarter.
Before Gill’s goal looked like it would hold up, defenseman Ray Guze leaked out after a San Jose shot, caught a 60-foot pass from Leyshon, faked and fired for a 9-8 lead with 5:03 left, his only goal of the season. Moments after Colorado’s Tom Ethington knocked the ball from Doyle, the Stealth got it back and Doyle fired around John Gallant to make it 9-9 with 2:48 left.
After Gill’s final goal, San Jose won another faceoff — it dominated 19 of 25 — to set up for Doyle’s OT-forcing shot.
Prior to Doyle taking over, the San Jose team that had scored 18 goals in its last outing struggled against Mammoth defenders and Leyshon, who smothered a number of close-range shots.
San Jose 1 5 0 4 1 — 11
Colorado 4 2 2 2 0 — 10
San Jose — Duch 5 goals-3 assists-8 points, Doyle 3-4-7, Zywicki 1-5-6, Rabil 1-1-2, Biers 1-0-1, Sedgwick 0-3-3, Sorenson 0-1-1, Veltman 0-1-1, Hartzell 0-1-1. Colorado — Gill 4-0-4, Langtry 2-1-3, Rosyski 1-2-3, Sims 1-1-2, Guze 1-0-1, Shewchuk 1-0-1, Prossner 0-3-3, Leyshon 0-2-2, Prout 0-2-2, Safarik 0-1-1, Gallant 0-1-1, Danowski 0-1-1, Catton 0-1-1. Goalies — San Jose: Richards, 41 saves; Colorado: Leyshon, 50 saves.
