ST. PAUL, Minn. — Ryan Benesch found another way to burn the Washington Stealth in a National Lacrosse League contest.
The left-handed Minnesota Swarm forward, who scored seven goals earlier this season in a blowout win for the Swarm on Jan. 14 in Everett, netted the game-winning goal in
sudden-death overtime to drop Washington to an 11-10 loss on Saturday night at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn.
The Stealth (2-3 overall) played toe-to-toe against Minnesota (3-1) with neither team gaining more than a two-goal advantage in front of an announced crowd of 8,911 fans. Washington ended up relying on secondary scoring as main offensive threats Rhys Duch (two goals, one assist) and Lewis Ratcliff (zero goals, four assists) failed to gain traction against Swarm goaltender Nick Patterson.
Washington transition player Paul Rabil capped a two-goal comeback and scored the game-tying goal with 3 minutes, 45 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. Rabil’s third goal of the game was a diving shot across the goal mouth that was initially whistled as no goal, but a challenge by Stealth head coach Chris Hall reversed the call as video replay showed the ball appeared to strike the crossbar and ricocheted straight down over the goal line.
Despite gaining a power play with 20.4 seconds remaining in the game, Washington couldn’t find the net before the buzzer and failed to execute on the man-advantage at the start of the overtime period as Patterson came up with a handful of saves.
The back-to-back NLL Defensive Player of the Week, Patterson made 40 saves including three in overtime as Washington dropped to 0-2 against the Swarm this season and lost the season series with one game left.
Minnesota, which has won three in a row, now owns the tiebreaker that could come into play late in the season as West Division teams battle for playoff positioning.
Stealth forward Tom Johnson recorded his fourth career hat-trick and Rabil added his second career hat-trick with a six-point game (three goals, three assists) for Washington.
Stealth goaltender Tyler Richards put in a strong performance in goal with 36 saves, but Minnesota surrendered just 19 turnovers — its lowest total of the season — and had two apparent goals waved off in the third quarter.
Benesch, a 26-year-old Kitchener, Ontario native, led the Swarm with five points (three goal, two assists) and forwards Aaron Wilson (two goals, three assists) and Callum Crawford (two goals, three assists) also added five points a piece.
A week after posting five goals and five assists against Calgary, Stealth forward Luke Wiles had just one goal and two assists and defenseman Mike Grimes added a transition goal to tie the game at 8-8 with 11 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
Minnesota reeled off four straight goals to close the first half in the lead 6-4 after Washington took a 4-2 advantage on a Rabil goal in which the transition player took the ball from end-to-end alone to score unassisted.
Swarm 11, Stealth 10
Washington 2 2 3 3 0 — 10
Minnesota 1 5 1 3 1 — 11
1st Quarter—1, Minnesota, Z. Greer 4 (R. Benesch, C. Crawford), 6:23. 2, Washington, P. Rabil 3 (L. Ratcliff, E. Martin), 6:47. 3, Washington, R. Duch 12 (L. Ratcliff, L. Wiles), 12:29 (pp). Penalties-Z. Greer Min (cross checking), 3:12; K. Ross Min (interference), 10:37; J. Koesterer Was (holding), 12:56.
2nd Quarter—4, Washington, L. Wiles 9 (J. Moleski, K. Hartzell), 0:14. 5, Minnesota, C. Crawford 7 (A. Wilson, J. Cinosky), 1:03 (ea). 6, Washington, P. Rabil 4 1:23. 7, Minnesota, R. Benesch 11 (A. Wilson, Z. Greer), 4:02. 8, Minnesota, C. Crawford 8 (E. Pacey, A. Watt), 6:02 (ea). 9, Minnesota, R. Morgan 2 (A. Suitor, N. Patterson), 6:27. 10, Minnesota, K. Ross 1 (C. Crawford, Z. Greer), 11:35. Penalties-J. Koesterer Was (boarding), 1:55; R. Morgan Min (cross checking), 7:37.
3rd Quarter—11, Washington, T. Johnson 3 (R. Duch, P. Rabil), 0:52. 12, Washington, R. Duch 13 (C. Sedgwick, C. Conn), 1:47. 13, Minnesota, R. Benesch 12 (A. Suitor, N. Patterson), 11:58. 14, Washington, T. Johnson 4 (P. Rabil, T. Richards), 13:26. Penalties-J. Bloom Was (cross checking), 14:20.
4th Quarter—15, Minnesota, Z. Greer 5 (R. Morgan, A. Wilson), 2:59. 16, Washington, M. Grimes 4 (E. Martin), 4:00. 17, Minnesota, A. Wilson 5 (R. Benesch, K. Ross), 5:37 (ea). 18, Minnesota, A. Wilson 6 (K. Ross, C. Crawford), 8:32 (pp). 19, Washington, T. Johnson 5 (L. Ratcliff, P. Rabil), 9:08. 20, Washington, P. Rabil 5 (L. Wiles, L. Ratcliff), 11:19. Penalties-E. Martin Was (unsportsmanlike conduct), 7:55; J. Sullivan Min (holding), 14:40.
OT Quarter—21, Minnesota, R. Benesch 13 (J. Sullivan, N. Talbot), 2:13. Penalties-No Penalties
Shots on Goal—Washington 9-13-14-11-3-50. Minnesota 12-11-10-12-2-47.
Power Play Opportunities-Washington 1 of 4; Minnesota 1 of 4.
Faceoffs—Washington 16 of 25; Minnesota 9 of 25.
Goalies—Washington, Richards 1-1-0 (47 shots-36 saves). Minnesota, Patterson 3-1-0 (50 shots-40 saves).
A—8,911.
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