Visualize cramming 10 people into a compact car. That’s how tightly packed teams are in the NLL East standings. There is going to be a wild scramble for playoff berths to the schedule’s April 29 finish.

New England (6-4) retained first place with an 8-7 overtime win in Toronto on Sunday afternoon, and Rochester (6-6) now sits third, ahead of the Rock (5-6) because of its 11-10 home overtime win Saturday night over Georgia, leaving the defending NLL champion Swarm (5-7) in fifth and last place.

Buffalo (6-5) was idle and remained second.

Variations on what it will take to make the playoffs require a calculator, and we just don’t have space here to get into it today.

In the only other NLL game during the weekend, Colorado clinched an NLL West playoff berth with an 8-7 home win over Calgary.

In Toronto, New England took a 6-3 lead at 10:54 of the second quarter then failed to score for the next 30 minutes, 27 seconds. After Rob Hellyer scored his second of the game for Toronto to tie it at 6, Kevin Crowley scored at 11:21 of the fourth quarter to put the Black Wolves up 7-6. Brett Hickey’s goal with 19.3 seconds remaining in the fourth made it 7-7.

In overtime, Crowley got the ball in his favorite spot at the top of the right side of the attacking zone and planted it in the far top corner of the net behind goalie Nick Rose at 2:08, ending a classic Rose-Aaron Bold goaltending show and disappointing many of the 10,259 spectators in Air Canada Centre — although there was a loud contingent cheering on the 14 Black Wolves players from Ontario. New England had a 59-58 edge in shots on goal.

“The challenge is, when you’re having a game like that and it’s not dropping, is to stay the course,” coach Glenn Clark said of his patient offense.

Clark on Crowley’s winning shot: “That was the spot we were looking for, and he hit it perfectly.”

“Oh, man, a lot of relief,” Crowley replied when asked how he felt when his OT bullet hit the target. “That win felt awesome. Boldy played great. The defense played great. It was a good team win. We’re very happy.”

Callum Crawford, in his first game with the Black Wolves after coming over from Buffalo in a trade that sent Shawn Evans to the Bandits, worked effectively on the right side with Crowley and scored a goal to go with two assists.

In Rochester, it looked as if Georgia would get to start overtime with a power play after Billy Dee Smith was assessed a major penalty and was ejected for a check on Lyle Thompson that opened a gash above Thompson’s right eye. But as Thompson went to the dressing room to have the wound repaired, the manpower advantage was wiped out when Jason Noble hauled down Cody Jamieson as the fourth quarter ended. Then, 90 seconds into extra time, Kyle Jackson fired a sidearm bullet past Mike Poulin to win it for the Knighthawks, who got two goals from each of Jamieson, Eric Fannell and Josh Currier. Rochester outshot Georgia 57-48, picking up its fourth straight win in front of a home crowd of 7,214.

The Knighthawks, once 2-6, are the hottest team in the division.

“It’s 18 games of lessons,” coach Mike Hasen said. “We’ve had 12 lessons, and we’ve got six more games of lessons to go.”

The Swarm have six games remaining to try and avoid the dubious distinction of missing the playoffs the year after winning the Champion’s Cup. Losing their season series with Rochester exacerbates their precarious position.

In Denver, Joey Cupido scored the winning goal for the Mammoth (8-3) by pulling in a long pass from goalie Dillon Ward and breaking a 7-7 tie at the 5:30 mark of the fourth quarter. Calgary pulled goalie Christian Del Bianco for a sixth runner and had the last possession, but Ward stopped shots by Holden Cattoni and Dane Dobbie in the dying seconds to thwart the Roughnecks (4-7). Shots were 51-50 in favor of Calgary in this back-and-forth divisional battle in front of a Pepsi Center crowd of 15,034.

Chris Wardle scored twice, and Ryan Benesch had a goal and four assists for the Mammoth in becoming the 12th player in league history with 900 points. Coach Pat Coyle told his players during the halftime break they needed to stay mentally sharp if they wanted to emerge victorious.

“We talked about how the team that made the fewest mistakes would probably win,” Coyle said.

He was right.

TRICK SHOT

Calgary’s Curtis Dickson scored the highlight reel goal of the weekend when he tied the score at 7 in the fourth minute of the fourth quarter in Denver. Running across the top of the Colorado crease, Dickson had one hand on his stick when he bounced a behind-the-back shot past Ward with a checker in hot pursuit.

#Superman @CurtisDickson17 scores on a 1 handed behind the back shot! Watch @NLLRoughnecks vs @MammothLax now on NLL TV & @CBSSports’ SportsLive! #NLL #CGYvsCOL #SCtop10 @SportsCenter @ESPNAssignDesk pic.twitter.com/LmoANzpa1N

— NLL (@NLL) March 11, 2018

’HAWKS GET BROWN

Rookie Frank Brown became available when Georgia made room two weeks ago for Joel White and Jordan Hall. Rochester signed him, and he was in the Knighthawks’ lineup when they beat the Swarm on Saturday. Brown was credited with gaining possession of four loose balls.

Brown, 24, was drafted 24th overall out of Hobart last September. He dressed for seven games with the Swarm this season. Now he’s reunited with Knighthawks assistant coach Marshall Abrams. Brown was a member of the Abrams-coached Six Nations Arrows when they won the 2014 Minto Cup junior championship of Canada.

“I feel like the time I was with the Arrows under Marshall was one of my greatest periods of growth when it comes to box lacrosse,” said Beown, a 6-foot-4 transition runner. “I have a lot of admiration and respect for Marshall Abrams. The opportunity to play under him again made the proposition [to play for Rochester] that much more exciting.”

Said Abrams: “He is a great fit for this league. It’s a great signing.”

FIGHTING OUT OF FASHION

The NLL’s admirable cleanup of its act has seen penalties for fighting assessed in only five of the 51 games played so far this season. There have been eight fights, and four of them were in a Toronto-at-Vancouver game back on Jan.6. A scan of game score sheets shows the last fight took place on Jan. 27.

WEEK 15 PREVIEW

Five games are scheduled. Every team plays. Buffalo plays twice. This is where things really start to heat up.

SASKATCHEWAN (10-2) at BUFFALO (6-5)
Friday, 7:30 p.m. ET

A Pat Saunders overtime goal gave the Bandits a 16-15 win Jan. 19 in Saskatoon. This will be the only other meeting. The last time the Rush were in Buffalo, they won 17-14 last April 1.

Both teams were idle last weekend. Buffalo is coming off an 8-7 road loss to Colorado. Saskatchewan’s last game was a 16-10 home win over Vancouver.

Offense: Saskatchewan’s average output of 14.67 goals a game is best in the league, while Buffalo is fourth with 13.18 per game.

Defense: Saskatchewan is allowing a second-best 10.75 goals per game, while Buffalo is eighth with 13.18 per game.

Buffalo is 3-2 at home. Saskatchewan is 6-1 on the road.

TORONTO (5-6) at NEW ENGLAND (6-4)
Friday, 7:30 p.m. ET

These teams get right back at it after the Black Wolves’ 8-7 OT win Sunday. Toronto defeated New England 21-9 at home Jan. 27, so the season series standings tiebreaker rides on this game.

Offense: Toronto’s 13.3 goals-per-game average is third-best in the league, while New England is eighth with 10.9 per game.

Defense: Toronto’s 11.5 goals allowed per game is fourth-best, while New England is eighth with a 13.7 goals-against mark.

New England is 3-2 at home. Toronto is 2-2 on the road.

Toronto’s Tom Schreiber has missed three games since partially tearing a knee ligament Feb. 10 and won’t be back until the end of March.

ROCHESTER (6-6) at CALGARY (4-7)
Saturday, 9 p.m. ET

It’s the Twitter Game of the Week.

This will be the second of two meetings. Rochester opened its season by trashing the Roughnecks 17-6 back on Dec. 9. The last time the Knighthawks played in Calgary, they won 9-8 on March 5, 2016.

Rochester is coming off an 11-10 home overtime win over Georgia. Calgary lost 8-7 at Colorado on Saturday.

Offense: Rochester is third with 13.25/game, while Calgary is seventh with 11.09/game.

Defense: Rochester is third with 11.42//game, while Calgary is fifth with 11.64/game.

Rochester is 2-3 on the road. Calgary is 3-3 at home.

COLORADO (8-3) at VANCOUVER (1-11)
Saturday, 10 p.m. ET

This will be the third of four meetings. Colorado won 15-8 at Vancouver on Dec. 8 and 14-13 at home Jan. 26.

Colorado clinched a playoff berth with its fourth win in a row, 8-7 over Calgary, on Saturday, while Vancouver was idle.

Offense: Colorado is fifth with 11.91/game, while Vancouver is ninth with 10.25.

Defense: Colorado is first with 10.64/game, while Vancouver is ninth with 15.17/game against.

Colorado is 4-1 on the road. Vancouver is 0-5 at home.

BUFFALO (6-5) at GEORGIA (5-7)
Sunday, 4:05 p.m. ET

This will be the second of two meetings. Buffalo blasted the Swarm 18-9 on Feb. 10. The last time Buffalo played in Duluth, Ga., the Swarm eked out a 17-16 win last April 15.

Buffalo will be coming off a home game the previous night against Saskatchewan. Georgia lost 11-10 in overtime in Rochester last weekend.

Offense: Buffalo is fourth with 13.18/game, while Georgia is sixth with 11.75/game.

Defense: Rochester is fourth with 11.42/game, while Georgia is sixth with 12.67/game against.

Buffalo is 3-3 on the road. Georgia is 2-3 at home.

TIME TRAVEL

March 20, 1988: The New Jersey Saints became the second league champion by defeating the Washington Wave 17-16 in front of a Capital Centre crowd of 8,125. Goaltender Larry Quinn and Jeff Goldberg were co-winners of the game MVP award. After the season, the franchise shifted to Long Island to play as the New York Saints.