With first place in the NLL West up for grabs, Saskatchewan is leading 7-6, is killing a penalty, and has possession of the ball in Colorado’s end when coach Derek Keenan takes a time out with 25.8 seconds remaining.

He replaces goaltender Aaron Bold so he can have five runners to make it easier to kill what’s left on the clock and seal the victory.

Mammoth coach Pat Coyle has a brainwave. He immediately calls goaltender Dillon Ward to the bench and sends out a runner to restore his team’s manpower advantage, so the Rush player with the ball can be double-teamed.

Both nets were empty at the same time. Now that’s a first.

Jeff Cornwall shoots into the empty Mammoth net for a short-handed goal with 13 seconds left to put the Rush up 8-6. The capacity Saskatoon crowd of 15,037 roars its approval. This is the same Jeff Cornwall who scored the clinching goal last spring in the Champion’s Cup on a breakaway. Rush fans love the guy and he keeps giving them reason to stand and applaud.

With Ward still on the Mammoth bench, Eli McLaughlin beats Bold with four seconds remaining. The final score read 8-7 in Saskatchewan’s favor.

Colorado pushed the Rush to their limit Saturday night despite the injury absences of forwards John Grant Jr., Jeremy Noble and Zack Greer, and Ward made it possible. The Rush had a 64-34 superiority on the shots counter.

The two-time champs are on a roll with five consecutive wins to improve to 5-2 atop the division.

COYLE PROMOTED

Earlier in the day, the Mammoth revised their coaching staff. Pat Coyle, Chris Gill and Dan Stroup had been co-coaches since 2014 and now Coyle, 47, originally from Orangeville, Ontario, and a Vancouver-region resident, has the title of head coach.

“Pat has earned the opportunity to be the leader on the bench and in the locker room,” said GM Steve Govett.

Coyle was a tough-as-nails defenseman who turned pro in 1994 with the Detroit Turbos of the Major Indoor Lacrosse League. As the result of an altercation with a referee, he was suspended indefinitely. He was reinstated in 1998 when the National Lacrosse League came into being and he was signed by the Ontario Raiders who became the Toronto Rock in 1999. Coyle helped them win four championships. He was defensive player of the year in 2002. He helped the Mammoth win the title in 2006, retired in 2008, and became the first defenseman inducted the NLL Hall of Fame.

“It’s a huge honor to feel like you’re at the helm,” said Coyle. “It’s a responsibility I take very seriously and I feel privileged.”

QUICK THINKING

Georgia’s Chad Tutton gets my vote for Smartest Move of Week 8.

In Toronto on Friday, Latrell Harris scored on a breakaway to give the Rock a 12-11 lead with 61 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter.

On an ensuing faceoff, the ball popped into Georgia’s zone and Harris and Ethan O’Connor batted for possession. Harris got the ball in his stick but the whistle blew and the Swarm were awarded possession. Harris had knocked O’Connor down.

Tutton stepped in to take the ball. Harris was close. When play resumed, Tutton rushed into Harris, who backpedalled. Harris was assessed an interference penalty. He apparently had not given Tutton sufficient floor space on the restart.

“Quick restarts,” Swarm coach Eddie Comeau said afterwards. “That’s what they do in this league.

“Those are hard calls for the ref not to make. When a guy is picking the ball up [on a turnover] and he gets checked or is impeded, that’s clear in the rule book. Referees, if they don’t make that call, they get in trouble. We benefitted from it.”

With Harris in the penalty box, Comeau lifted goalie Mike Poulin for a 6-on-4 scenario. Shayne Jackson leaned into the crease and as he was falling fired a low shot past Nick Rose with 3.9 seconds remaining, forcing overtime.

Toronto had the first possession of overtime. Kieran McArdle, who had already scored three goals, was the logical choice to get the planned shot. Poulin made the save. The Swarm got their chance and Johnny Powless beat Rose high 46 seconds in and the Swarm prevailed 13-12 in the battle for first place in the NLL East.

“They battled hard, we battled hard,” said Comeau. “That was probably the best game of the year in the league so far. It was real good battle.”

“Ultimately, we made a few too many mistakes,” Rock coach Matt Sawyer said. “We made more mistakes than they did and they were able to capitalize. It was a heck of a lacrosse game. It’s disappointing to lose one like that.”

Nobody was blaming Harris, the youngest NLL player at 18, for the untimely penalty.

“I’m sure Latrell wasn’t feeling great about that,” Sawyer said. “The message was, ‘Keep your head up, kid.’ He’s a good player for us. We need to count on him. No individual player lost this game. We lost it as a team. We’re bound to face some adversity and this is our first real test of it.”

Statistically, special teams stats were telling: Georgia was 5-for-6 on power plays and held Toronto to 3-for-6 while scoring two short-handed goals.

As for Harris, he displayed the attitude of a seasoned pro despite his youth.

“The player is coming into you and you get called for delay of game or whatever it was. That’s just an [unlucky] bounce,” he offered when asked about the penalty call. “That was two teams batting for No. 1. I’m not sure what more you could ask for especially at the ACC (Air Canada Centre) with the fans and an atmosphere that is amazing.”

WELCOME BACK, JOHNNY

It was great to see Johnny Powless back in uniform and watching him score two goals including the overtime winner in his return Friday made seeing No. 93 on the green carpet again all the more memorable.

“We gave him a few more shifts as the game went on,” said Comeau. “He’s a goal scorer. He’s scored a lot of big goals in his career at every level. We were certainly happy he did it for us (Friday).”

Powless had been out since taking a hit to the head in summer ball last summer.

“Sitting out, watching everybody play when the season started, I was glad they were doing well, but sitting out watching really hurt.”

On his winning shot, a bullet off goalie Nick Rose’s arm and into the far top corner of the Rock net: “I found some space [on the floor]. I shot it and I got lucky and it went in. I went high. I had a gut feeling I wanted to shoot far side before the game even started.”

He was a happy man after his home debut Sunday.

“Just being back is awesome,” he said. “Being back with the guys is really fun, and it’s a bonus when we win both games.”

SWARM FIRST OVERALL

Georgia improved its record to 7-1 with a 15-9 win over visiting Rochester on Sunday night. The Swarm are first overall going into a bye weekend.

“This is a great group of guys,” said Powless, who scored two more goals Sunday. “Right now we’re playing good lacrosse so we want to keep that up and keep getting wins.”

ROCK REMAIN SECOND

Toronto improved to 5-2 by winning 10-6 in Rochester on Saturday with goalie Nick Rose tossing the ball the length of the floor into an empty net in the dying seconds for his second career goal. Tom Schreiber had beaten Matt Vinc on a penalty shot with 49 seconds left. With Stephan Leblanc out with a flu and Kasey Beirnes sidelined by injury, Phil Caputo and Reid Reinholdt got to play and each scored twice.

“Fantastic,” forward Brett Hickey said of the play of the reinforcements. On the win the day after a loss, he added, “It shows we have character and can handle a little adversity.”

Blue Cross Arena attendance was 5,483. Crowds of 8,000 and more were the norm when the Knighthawks were winning the championship in 2012, 2013 and 2014.

GOALIES WITH GOALS

Rob Blasdell, who played for six teams and retired eight years ago, holds the record for most goals by a goaltender, four (2001, 2003, 2007, 2008). Pat O’Toole, who retired seven years ago and who is an assistant coach with Rochester, scored three times (2001, 2002, 2003). Rose’s goal Saturday upped his total to two (2016, 2017), tying him with teammate Brandon Miller (2004, 2009) for third place on this unique list.

TAKING THE BLAME

Calgary fell behind 6-1 in losing 13-10 at home to Vancouver on Saturday and coach Curt Malawsky took the blame for the abysmal start.

“The start killed us,” he said. “The start is 100 percent on me.

“It’s my job as a coach to prepare these guys. I didn’t have them prepared properly. In the first quarter, the first half, we weren’t there. That’s my job. It’s happened too many times. At the start of the game, obviously, I’m not doing something right. So that one’s on me. The start of the game, 100 percent, is on my shoulders.

“The guys are giving me everything they’ve got. They’re battling and competing. ... The guys care. It’s on me to make adjustments and make sure we start games better. ... You want to point a finger? Everyone point a finger at me.”

After a 3-1 start, Calgary is 3-4 including an abysmal 1-4 home record.

MOVIN’ UP

Buffalo’s Mark Steenhuis increased his career points total to 961 by scoring two goals and assisting on three in the Bandits’ 16-15 overtime win Sunday at New England. He moved past Lewis Ratcliff and into eighth place on the all-time list.

THE BACK END

Buffalo is last on defense, allowing an average of 15 goals a game, and it is the main reason the Bandits are 2-5. Toronto’s back end is No. 1 with an NLL-best 8.71 GAA.

SCORING RACE

Lyle Thompson’s 19-point weekend gives him the most points. He is tied with Calgary’s Curtis Dickson for most goals (25). No. 4 got a goal and eight assists in a 13-12 overtime win Friday in Toronto and he had six goals and four assists in a 15-9 home win over Rochester on Sunday. After eight games, he’s just one point shy of equalling his rookie output of 60 in 18 games.

“I like to be someone who can go to the net and score if a team is not respecting my ability to score and, if a team is overplaying that, that’s when I start feeding the ball,” he said.

The Top 10	Team	Goals	Assists	Points
Lyle Thompson	Georgia	25	34	59
Corey Small	Vancouver	21	35	56
Shawn Evans	New England	19	35	54
Mark Matthews	Saskatchewan	18	31	49
Rhys Duch	Vancouver	19	28	47
Callum Crawford	Colorado	12	32	44
Curtis Dickson	Calgary	25	18	43
Logan Schuss	Vancouver	22	20	42
Jordan Hall	Georgia	12	30	42
Kevin Crowley	New England	22	18	40

ROOKIE SCORING

Tom Schreiber of the Rock continues to lead. The Princeton grad has 12 goals and 27 assists for 39 points. Second is Josh Currier of the Knighthawks with 12 goals and 14 assists for 26 points.

PENALTIES HURT

Calgary has been assessed an average of 28.29 minutes in penalties a game. At the other end of the shoot-yourself-in-the-foot scale, Toronto is taking an average of 10.14 minutes per game.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Division leaders Georgia and Saskatchewan are 1-2 in power play efficiency, at 63 percent and 60.5 percent, respectively. Toronto is at the bottom at 35.1.

Georgia has the best penalty kill, surviving 56.4 percent of the time. Calgary is second best at 50 percent. The ‘Necks get plenty of practice at being a man down. Vancouver’s man-down percentage 35.5 is the worst.

KNIGHTHAWKS LAST

The loss in Georgia on Sunday coupled with Buffalo’s overtimewin at New England earlier in the day dropped Rochester, 2-5, into last place in the NLL East and last overall.

WINLESS AT HOME

Vancouver, 0-3 in the Langley Events Centre, is the only team without a home win.