Washington dropped a close, 14-13 loss to Edmonton Saturday night at Comcast Arena.
Maybe it was all the 80s music being pumped into the arena on “80s Night,” but for whatever reason the Stealth just weren’t on top of their game in the first 30 minutes.
The Stealth dug themselves a 7-3 hole at halftime thanks to some poor reads on defense, penalty trouble and an aggressive Edmonton defense … not to mention some tremendous goalkeeping from Rush goalie Matt Disher.
Disher made 48 saves against the Stealth, a night after he took a 15-14 overtime loss to Calgary.
Some other notes:
— Stealth forward Jeff Zywicki (28 goals, 40 assists this season) did not play for the third straight game. He was a late scratch.
— Lewis Ratcliff recorded his third sock-trick of the season with six goals and two assists. The other two: Jan. 23 vs. Calgary, March 27 at home against Colorado.
— Edmonton’s Ryan Powell played the villain again, scoring two late goals for a 14-12 Rush lead with less than 2 minutes remaining. Powell scored a late equalizer and overtime winner against the Stealth on April 2.
Here is an partial, quote-less version of my game story that will appear in Sunday’s edition of the Herald and online.
By Mark Nelson
Herald Writer
EVERETT—A lackluster first half for the Washington Stealth against visiting Edmonton just made next week’s season ending matchup against the Rochester Knighthawks tremendously more important.
The Stealth, who needed a win to lock up the top seed in the West Division as well as the No. 1 overall spot in the league, fell into a five-goal deficit early in the second half and, despite climbing back and tying the contest twice, dropped a 14-13 decision to the Rush in a National Lacrosse League game in front of 4,141 fans at Comcast Arena.
Washington forward Lewis Ratcliff, who leads the league with 45 goals, recorded his third sock-trick of the season with six goals and two assist against the Rush (10-6 overall), who now hold the tiebreaker over the Stealth (10-5) for the top playoff spot in the West Division.
Socks didn’t scatter the field this time as Edmonton’s Ryan Powell scored two late goals to give the Rush a 14-12 lead with 1 minute, 39 seconds remaining in the game.
Ratcliff netted his sixth goal with 36.2 seconds left on the clock, but a frantic final half-minute turned up fruitless for Washington as Rhys Duch shot wide with 3 seconds remaining.
Edmonton’s defense and goaltender Matt Disher, who took the defeat in a 15-14 overtime loss Friday night for the Rush against Calgary, kept the Stealth off balance for much of the opening half.
The loss means Washington must beat Rochester (7-8 and fighting for a playoff spot in the East) on Saturday to earn the top overall and top spot in the West for the playoffs.
Edmonton won the season series 2-1 over Washington, which means if the Stealth fail to beat Rochester, Edmonton takes the No. 1 seed.
Washington was without high-scoring forward Jeff Zywicki for the third straight game because of a lower-body injury. Zywicki, who was originally thought to be ready to play against the Rush, was a late scratch.
Edmonton goaltender Matt Disher made 48 saves, including a couple magnificent stops in the first half. The Stealth peppered Disher with 60 shots, to Edmonton’s 41 on Stealth goaltender Matt Roik, who was hit with his first loss of the year.
Ryan Ward led the Rush with four goals, while Powell notched two goals and two assists and Dean Hill had three goals.
Edmonton’s season is over, which means Washington controls its own playoff destiny.
Duch, Paul Rabil and Luke Wiles each scored two goals and the Stealth defense contained Edmonton on the power play, holding the Rush to just 1-for-6 on the man-advantage, but Roik (26 saves) was left out to dry on a number of Edmonton goals.
Edmonton 4 3 3 4 —14
Washington 1 2 5 5 — 13
1st Quarter-1, Edmonton, A. Secore 23 (D. Hill, R. McNish), 0:57. 2, Washington, M. Beers 2 (M. Roik), 4:24. 3, Edmonton, D. Hill 16 (A. Secore), 7:54 (pp). 4, Edmonton, B. Merrill 17 11:22. 5, Edmonton, R. Ward 28 (A. Secore, R. Powell), 12:19.
2nd Quarter-6, Washington, L. Ratcliff 40 (J. Dalgarno), 4:21. 7, Edmonton, D. Hill 17 (G. Prout), 8:08. 8, Edmonton, C. Small 17 (B. Merrill, A. Secore), 8:43. 9, Washington, L. Wiles 22 (K. Sorensen), 11:59. 10, Edmonton, G. Prout 26 (A. Secore, R. Glaves), 14:37.
3rd Quarter-11, Edmonton, D. Hill 18 (C. Small), 3:45. 12, Washington, P. Rabil 8 (M. Beers), 3:58. 13, Edmonton, R. Ward 29 (G. Prout), 5:11. 14, Washington, L. Ratcliff 41 (R. Duch, L. Wiles), 6:17 (pp). 15, Washington, L. Wiles 23 (L. Ratcliff), 8:05. 16, Washington, L. Ratcliff 42 (R. Duch), 8:54 (pp). 17, Edmonton, R. Ward 30 (G. Prout, D. Hill), 9:51. 18, Washington, R. Duch 26 14:17.
4th Quarter-19, Washington, P. Rabil 9 (R. Duch), 0:15. 20, Washington, L. Ratcliff 43 (R. Duch), 0:46. 21, Washington, L. Ratcliff 44 (R. Duch), 1:13. 22, Edmonton, R. Ward 31 (A. Secore), 2:02. 23, Edmonton, G. Prout 27 (C. Small, R. Powell), 5:05 (sh). 24, Washington, R. Duch 27 (L. Ratcliff), 7:18. 25, Edmonton, R. Powell 19 (G. Prout, C. Small), 11:37. 26, Edmonton, R. Powell 20 (B. Merrill, G. Prout), 13:21. 27, Washington, L. Ratcliff 45, 14:24.
Shots on Goal-Edmonton 12-12-5-11-40. Washington 12-11-17-21-61.
Power Play Opportunities-Edmonton 1 of 6; Washington 2 of 6.
Faceoffs-Edmonton 13 of 31; Washington 18 of 31.
Goalies-Edmonton, Disher 8-5-0 (61 shots-48 saves). Washington, Roik 6-1-0 (40 shots-26 saves).
A-4,141
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