It’s probably too early to write off the Colorado Mammoth just yet. As John Grant Jr. said following Saturday night’s game with the Washington Stealth at the Pepsi Center, the season is still within its grasp. But it’s slipping away with each passing game.
Washington, behind three Luke Wiles goals — including two in the fourth period — handed Colorado its third straight National Lacrosse League loss, 10-8 at the Pepsi Center. And this one stung more than the others.
“We’re not playing 60 minutes. I could sit here and say we did this and did that. We’re not playing hard enough for 60 minutes, and we made stupid mistakes,” said Mammoth forward Brian Langtry, who scored two goals and assisted on three others.
Colorado, despite having three goals disallowed, took an 8-6 lead less than three minutes into the fourth period behind goals from Langtry and Grant, who scored three times. But Washington (3-3), down 8-7 with 3:12 left, sent the crowd of 14,091 home disappointed after exploding for three goals in a minute.
The loss sent the Mammoth (1-4) to its seventh straight loss in the series and fourth in a row at home to the Stealth.
“That was a great team effort by us all the way through,” Wiles said. “Our defense was awesome. Tyler Richards played great tonight. I think both goalies played great tonight. (Chris) Levis held them in it. We got a couple late, and our defense held them at the end. It’s a huge character win for us.”
It was something totally different for Colorado, which pelted Stealth goalie Richards with 60 shots. He made 52 saves.
“We tried to play 60 minutes and we played 57. It’s an improvement over the last couple of weeks when we played 30, but there’s no excuse. We’re coughing the ball up, coughing the game up almost every single game this season. It’s ridiculous. If we don’t change it soon, it’s going to be a long season,” Grant said.
While Colorado’s defense was stout for the game’s first 57 minutes, as evident by Levis’ 42 saves, it was the offense that couldn’t capitalize in the first period and late in the fourth.
“We’ve had opportunities in every game we’ve played; we’re just not getting it done. We’ve got to figure it out in a big hurry,” Mammoth coach Bob Hamley said.
Washington 1 2 3 4 — 10
Colorado 0 3 3 2 — 8
First period — 1, Washington, R. Duch (C. Sedgwick), 6:12 (pp).
Second period — 2, Colorado B. Langtry (M. McLellan), 13:19 (pp); 3, Colorado, J. Shewchuck (B. Langtry, M. McLellan), 8:42 (pp); 4, Washington E. Martin (C. Sedgwick), 4:51, 5, Colorado, J. Grant (B. Langtry, AA. Gajic), 3:08; 6. Washington, L. Ratcliff (P. Rabil, E. Martin), 1:19 (sh).
Third period — 7, Colorado, J. Grant (B. Langtry), 12:24 (pp); 8, Washington, L. Wiles, 10:41; 9, Washington, R. Duch (J. Moleski, T. Richards), 9:47; 10, Washington, T. Johnson (R. Duch, P. Rabil), 5:41; 11. Colorado, A. Gajic (J. Shewchuk, J. Grant), 4:15 (pp); 12, Colorado, C. Smith (J. Prossner, J. Gallant), 2:48.
Fourth period — 13, Colorado, B. Langtry (J. Grant, J. Shewchuk), 13:07; 14, Colorado, J. Grant (D. Carey), 12:08; 15, Washington, L. Wiles (M. Grimes), 9:40; 16, Washington, T. Johnson (L. Wiles), 3:12; 17, Washington, L. Wiles (T. Johnson), 2:42 18, Washington, C. Sedgwick (L. Ratcliff, J. Moleski), 2:12.
Shots on goal — Washington 10-12-9-22—52; Colorado 16-17-11-14 —60. Power-play opportunities — Washington 1 of 5; Colorado 4 of 9. Faceoffs — Washington 14 of 23; Colorado 9 of 23. Goalies — Washington, Tyler Richards (60 shots-52 saves); Colorado, Chris Levis (52 shots-42 saves)
