While playoff spots are still up for grabs to the majority of Major League Lacrosse, the Rookie of the Year is coming down to two candidates: Florida’s Dylan Molloy and Chesapeake’s Josh Byrne.

It’s not to say the rest of the rookie class isn’t talented — neither Molloy nor Byrne were all-stars, but first-round selections Jake Froccaro (Chesapeake) and Zach Currier (Denver) were — but both Molloy and Byrne are scoring in bunches and having big impacts on their teams’ games.

In Florida’s 18-10 loss to Chesapeake on July 20, Molloy, the 2016 Tewaaraton Award winner and No. 1 overall draft pick out of Brown, was held to just two goals. In the Launch’s 18-12 victory Saturday over Charlotte, Molloy scored six goals and added one assist.

In seven games, Molloy has 19 goals and five assists. He has scored a goal in six of the seven games in which he has played and produced at least one point in every game. He was the Offensive Player of the Week in Week 8 and the Rookie of the Week in Week 12.

“It’s awesome. I couldn’t be happier about it,” Molloy said team’s website. “Hopefully, we keep it rolling.”

Byrne has been lighting up the scoreboard as of late. In Week 13, he had five goals and one assist against Florida, and he scored four of the team’s 13 goals in a victory Saturday over Atlanta. He is the Bayhawks’ second-leading scorer — with 28 goals, seven assists and 35 points – despite appearing in just seven games. He has two seven-point games already this season, and he was Rookie of the Week in Week 8.

“Yeah, Byrne is pretty good. He’s a tremendous finisher who can dodge, too,” Chesapeake coach Brian Reese said on the team’s website. “He just plays with so much energy and cares so much and wants to be great. He’s got the talent and the right attitude to be a special player in this league.”

Rematches Matter

The 2016 MLL season ended with seven teams tied for first place, causing the league to go through numerous tiebreakers to determine the four playoff teams. Head-to-head matchups proved to be pivotal.

The 2017 playoff race is shaking out similarly, and teams are aware.

In Week 13, two games were rematches from Week 12: Florida against Chesapeake and Ohio against Denver. In both cases, the results were flipped, causing a series split.

The Week 13 finale featured the defending champion Outlaws and against the runner-up Machine. Ohio, which lost to Denver 13-11 a week earlier, defeated the Outlaws 13-12 thanks to a Peter Baum goal with 1:29 remaining in the fourth quarter. It was Baum’s second goal, and he also had two assists.

Machine goalie Kyle Bernlohr made 16 saves on 28 shots on goal, earning Player of the Game honors.

“We did a way better job at sliding and recovering,” Bernlohr said in a post-game interview on Lax Sports Network. “There were a few possessions where we forced them into a shot clock situation, so credit to our D for playing according to the game plan and getting the shots I wanted to see.”

After a wild 20-19 shootout in Florida in Week 12, only one team was able to get its offense going Saturday, and that was Chesapeake, which avenged its loss to the Launch with an 18-10 win Thursday.

Ten different players registered a point for Chesapeake, including Lyle Thompson, who followed up that performance with two goals and two assists in the Bayhawks’ 13-12 victory at Atlanta on Saturday.

Defensively, Chesapeake has received a jolt from goalie Niko Amato, who has allowed just 22 goals while going the distance in his first two starts of the season.

“We kind of challenged the guys a little bit this week. I thought the defense responded and played an excellent game,” Reese said on the team’s website. “We communicated well, we slid and recovered great. It was just an excellent effort on that end of the field.”

Boston Bounced

Once again, the MLL playoff race is close. Two teams (Denver and Ohio) are tied for first place at 8-4, three teams (Rochester, Chesapeake and New York) are tied for the final playoff spot at 6-6, and two teams (Atlanta and Charlotte) are only one game behind them at 5-7.

We we do know one team that won’t make the playoffs: the Boston Cannons. With a 16-14 loss to the rival New York Lizards, Boston fell to 3-8 and was officially eliminated the postseason.

“There are no moral victories in my opinion, this was a tough loss for us,” Cannons coach Sean Quirk said on the team’s website. “The way our team came together tonight against New York and battled together was very impressive. We played very unselfish all over the field. The heart and effort we put forth for 60 minutes was something our entire coaching staff was very proud of.”

Looking toward the future, rookies made contributions for the Cannons against the Lizards. Midfielder Sergio Perkovic scored, as did Luke Goldstock, who made his MLL debut.

Noteworthy

After being traded to New York, Will Manny and Joe LoCascio played their former team, the Boston Cannons, for the first time. Not only did New York win, but also Manny tied for the team lead with four points (four goals) and LoCascio had two points (one goal, one assist). … Kyle Jackson led the Cannons with two goals and three assists. …

Rookie Brian Sherlock scored three goals in Atlanta’s loss to Chesapeake. …

Kieran McArdle scored three goals and added two assists in Florida’s victory over Charlotte. He also scored two goals in the team’s loss to Chesapeake. … Florida rookie midfielder Nick Mariano scored four goals against Chesapeake, and he had two goals and an assist against Charlotte. …

Charlotte midfielder Mike Chanenchuck scored three goals — one-third of Charlotte’s total — and added an assist against the Bayhawks. … Charlotte defender Michael Erhardt scored a 2-point goal and added an assist for a three-point night. …

Connor Cannizzaro scored three goals and added two assists for five points in Ohio’s victory over Denver. … Eric Law scored five goals and added one assist in Denver’s loss to Ohio. … John Galloway made 16 saves on 28 shots on goal in Rochester’s 18-12 victory Thursday over Denver, which has lost two straight … Dhane Smith (five assists) and Jordan MacIntosh (four goals, one assist) each led Rochester with five points, while John Ranagan added four goals.

Player of the Week

Josh Byrne, A, Chesapeake

In two games in Week 13, Byrne totaled 10 points. Against Florida, Chesapeake opened the game in the second quarter, outscoring the Launch 7-2. Byrne had two goals in that quarter. He scored five goals on 10 shots. Against Atlanta, Byrne’s final goal put Chesapeake ahead by one with about three and a half minutes left. (Randy Staats would tie the game, leading to Matt Danowski’s game-winner with 47 seconds remaining). Byrne had another strong shooting night, scoring four goals on eight shots.