The National Lacrosse League's Boston Blazers dropped two games this weekend to even their season record at 2-2.
Friday night, the Blazers faced the Toronto Rock at the Air Canada Center. The Blazers' Kevin Buchanan and Casey Powell and the Rock's Stephen Leblanc had a goal scoring duel throughout the game, with each notching five goals on the evening. The Rock maintained a lead through most of the night, leading 7-5 going into the half and going into the fourth up 11-8 on the Blazers.
The fourth quarter kicked off with Powell notching two goals by the 2:48 mark. Blazers' transition player Ryan Hotaling then jumped in with an unassisted goal after approximately five minutes of no scoring by either team. Then the Blazers came alive, tying the game with three goals within another minutes in a half at the close of the quarter and forcing their first overtime game of the season.
In overtime, Blazers goalie Anthony Cosmo held off the Rock's angry offense, making 15 saves in the frame alone (saving 45 on the night total.) The Rock's Leblanc worked one by Cosmo at the 8:56 mark of overtime, giving the Rock the 15-14 win and the Blazers their first loss of the season.
The Blazers' Saturday night game with the Rochester Knighthawks also went into overtime. Like the night before, the Blazers fell behind early, letting the Knighthawks sneak three goals past Cosmo in the first quarter. Blazers forward Josh Sanderson (usually quiet scoring wise the night before while facing a Rock team full of family ties) finally got the Blazers on the board in the second quarter. Sanderson and Powell would combine for five goals in the second, tying the game heading into the half.
Powell and Sanderson would have a hand in all but one of the Blazers goals in the second half, and held a 10-9 lead in the end seconds of the fourth quarter. However, the Knighthawks much heralded rookie, Cody Jamieson netted his third goal of the night with only six seconds left in the quarter to send the game into overtime. The Knighthawks' Shawn Evans then scored his third goal of the game a mere 48 seconds into overtime to give them the win.
The Blazers (2-2) host the struggling Philadelphia Wings (1-2) on Friday at the TD Garden before facing a rematch with the (2-1) Knighthawks in Rochester on Saturday.
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