All good things must come to an end. Such was the case for the Mammoth’s regular-season overtime winning streak, which spanned eight games and more than three years. Rush forward Ben McIntosh scored the game-winner one-minute, 24-seconds into OT at SaskTel Centre to keep Saskatchewan atop the West Division standings with a 12-11 final.

“I guess that [the Rush is] the benchmark because they’ve won [the championship] the last two years in a row. We don’t really think of them as the defending champions; we just think of them as another team that’s in our way,” said Mammoth head coach Pat Coyle. “We feel like we lost that game tonight, not so much that they beat us. They’re a good team, but we know we can beat them.”

Colorado came flying out of the gates, scoring three goals (one short-handed) in the first six minutes of the game. Saskatchewan scored five of the next six and led by one at the end of one.

Former Rush Zack Greer, who returned to the line-up after suffering an injury one month ago, scored on the power-play to start the second to level the score at five. The Mammoth wouldn’t tie the game again until Chris Wardle’s career-high fifth goal of the night early in the fourth. (His previous career-best was two goals.)

“It definitely felt nice to have some drop tonight,” said the game’s leading scorer, “but what we wanted, which was a win, we didn’t get. That’s the most important point, so we’re going to focus on tomorrow against Vancouver and come out with a big win.”

Saskatchewan’s Mark Matthews completed his hat trick midway through the period, only to see Colorado’s Stephen Keogh (2g, 2a) force overtime.

For the second time this season, goaltender Dillon Ward faced a career-high 63 shots by the Rush. For the third time in the last four games, he made 50-plus saves (which included double-digit totals in each of the four quarters).

Colorado’s team-record four straight games holding opponents to single-digits came to an end, as did its mini two-game win streak. The team is back at Pepsi Center tomorrow night for a 7pm MT match-up with the Vancouver Stealth (4-6).

Featured Image Credit: Calvin So/Saskatchewan Rush/GetMyPhoto.ca