The Colorado Mammoth (4-3) won its second straight game on Sunday night as it pulled out a 10-9 overtime victory over the Vancouver Stealth (2-5) at Langley Events Centre in British Columbia.
It was Colorado’s first win over a West Division opponent this season, and propelled the Mammoth to 2-0 in overtime contests. Colorado led for just 50 seconds the entire game, that coming in the opening minutes of action. In the second quarter, forward Brent Adams scored his first NLL goal – a short-handed tally at that – to even the score at three.
Early in the third, fellow rookie Nick Ossello was ejected from the game on a high-sticking penalty. Mammoth defenseman Joey Cupido’s short-handed marker was sandwiched between three Stealth man-up goals as Vancouver took a 7-5 lead.
Cupido buried 13 seconds into the fourth, followed by Adams’ second just over a minute later to tie the game at seven. Following another Vancouver goal, Colorado’s Mike Mallory scored to knot the game at eight. Then, Rhys Duch and the Stealth cashed in on rookie Taylor Stuart’s holding penalty to take a 9-8 advantage with 58 ticks left.
Colorado pulled goaltender Dillon Ward, and Zack Greer’s second of the night came with an extra attacker on the floor to send the game to overtime.
“I wasn’t shooting well, but [Coach Gill] just told me to keep confident, don’t defer,” said Greer. “The guys set some good picks and I waited out the goalie. I found a way to squeak it in there.”
In OT, Adams completed his hat trick on a hustle play from those around him.
“The support of [my teammates] is just unbelievable,” said Sunday’s hero. “Them instilling confidence in me is the entire thing. I attribute everything in my game today to them.”
Playing down a man with Ossello tossed, forward Callum Crawford had sustained a lower-body injury that saw his night end early as well.
“It was a great team win!” said coach Dan Stroup. “We had guys going down [to injury], and we were short-handed a bit. We came together as a team and pulled it out.”
Cupido now has two multi-goal games in his last four contests, and his scores on Sunday evening were his first away from home on the year. Fellow defender Creighton Reid scored for Colorado, as did forward Jacob Ruest.
Ward made 38 saves to improve to 4-1, his lone blemish coming at the hands of Sunday’s opponent at Pepsi Center a month ago.
“We lost a tough one to [Vancouver] earlier on in the season,” said Adams. “To win in their barn is definitely huge for us!”
Next up for the Mammoth is a visit to Saskatchewan to take on the two-time defending NLL champion Rush on Saturday, Feb. 18 at 6:30pm MT. First place in the West is on the line.
Featured Image Credit: Twitter, Colorado Mammoth (via NLLTV.com)