It’s fine and dandy to win in the NLL during the depths of winter, but what matters most is winning in the spring. It’s called peaking at the right time, and the Georgia Swarm are a prime example.

The reigning champions were merely just another team earlier on, dropping into the NLL East basement at times and prompting the curious to wonder if they might even miss qualifying for the playoffs.

So, they go into Saskatoon on Saturday against the No. 1 overall Rush and dominate 16-10 in the same SaskTel Centre in which they won the Champion’s Cup. It was their fourth straight win and boosted them into a first-place tie with Rochester in the East. They were cookin’ and Lyle Thompson continued as the master chef in scoring five goals for the third time in the four-win streak. All of a sudden, No. 4 is in the scoring race and in the MVP conversation as Georgia continues its powerful spring performances.

“We told ourselves before this game this determines whether we’re a playoff team or whether we’re a championship team here, kind of getting back to the way we were feeling, the way we were playing last year,” Thompson said. “Overall, it was a really good performance as a full offense, defense, goalie — everything.”

Thompson has scored 18 goals during his team’s four-game spring blitz. Randy Staats had an impressive game with four goals Saturday, and Jordan Hall, Jordan MacIntosh and Shayne Jackson scored two goals each.

“All in all, it was a really solid team effort from the front door right through the back door,” coach Ed Comeau said.

The Rush defense had a hard time checking anything in yellow and black, and an offense that spearheaded a 20-10 road win over Vancouver the previous night met a wall in goalie Mike Poulin.

“It was a very frustrating game all-around,” Mark Matthews said. “When you’re coming off a back-to-back and you just don’t get any bounces like that, it’s just not fun to play.”

“They obviously had a lot to play for,” Rush coach Derek Keenan said of the Swarm. “They’re playing for their playoff lives. Our compete level was great. We generated a ton of really good scoring chances. We didn’t finish and then they’d come down and get a dribbler or something like that. But they played really well. They played hard. We didn’t quit. We played right to the end.”

Losing defenseman Brett Mydske to an upper body injury early in the game handicapped a tiring Rush defense late in the game. “It’s nothing too serious,” Keenan said.

Rush players had Humboldt nameplates and Swarm players had Broncos nameplates on the backs of their sweaters in a tribute to the 16 who died and the 13 survivors of the Saskatchewan junior hockey team bus crash eight days earlier. Names of all 29 were displayed on the boards around the playing surface. The 14,745 spectators gave the players, including the visitors, standing ovations when they stepped onto the green carpet.

“To have that happen was pretty sweet,” said Matthews. “It almost brought a tear to my eye.”

The players intermingled in a circle at centre for a moment of silence before the game began. Afterwards, the Rush announced that one-half of the 50-50 draw proceeds were going to . . ..

HUGE WIN

Kevin Crowley scored five goals and Aaron Bold was at his best in the nets as New England produced its best game of the year and saved its season with a 10-6 road win over Colorado that moved the Black Wolves into a third-place tie with Buffalo in the NLL East.

Crowley has scored at least three goals in each of the last seven games. He now has a career-bests 49 goals. And he has scored a goal in 35 consecutive games.

A Pepsi Center crowd of 15,303 witnessed the least effective Mammoth offense of the year.

BANDITS BLOW IT

Buffalo blew a chance to retain a share of first place by losing 16-9 in Calgary. They now are tied for third in the NLL East with New England, both at 8-8.

The largest crowd of the NLL season, 17,113 on Fan Appreciation Night, watched Calgary go on a 10-goal run that arrested the Bandits. Holden Cattoni scored five goals and Dane Dobbie three. Christian Del Bianco went more than 23 minutes without allowing a Buffalo goal.

Talk about peaking at the right time has to include the Roughnecks, who got a highlight reel goal from defenseman Greg Harnett. Snaring a rebound, Harnett lifted his stick and delivered a perfectly placed shot over his back into the far side of the net as he ran past the Bandits net. It was the second goal of the year for the assistant captain from Orangeville, Ontario.

SCORING RACE

Saskatchewan’s Mark Matthews amassed 10 points (3G, 7A) in his team’s 20-10 road win over Vancouver on Friday and picked up another four (2G, 2A) in the 16-10 home loss to Georgia on Saturday, all of which reinforced his hold on first place in the scoring race. No. 42 now has 108 points (31G, 77A). He’s six shy of the single-season assists record. It is his fourth consecutive season with more than 100 points. He will top his career-best 115 points of 2015.

Robert Church of the Rush is second with 103 (46G, 47A), Buffalo’s Dhane Smith is third with 95 (34G, 61A) and Rochester’s Joe Resetarits is fourth with 92  (34G, 58A).

FIRST NLL WIN

On Friday, Saskatchewan rested Evan Kirk and gave 27-year-old Adam Shute his first NLL goaltending start, which resulted in 33 saves in the 20-10 win over Vancouver. The 6-foot-4 native of Calgary via New England College was the 13th pick in the 2014 entry draft by the Rush. Shute was a scorer at NEC in Henniker, N.H., completing four years of NCAA field lacrosse with 112 goals.

SCHREIBER RETURNS

Captain America scored four goals in his return to the Rock lineup after being out since Feb. 10 rehabbing from a knee injury, but it wasn’t enough as Toronto fell 14-11 at home to Rochester in front of 11,463 spectators.

“The effort was there,” Tom Schreiber said. “We played with the sense of urgency we needed. We played with a lot of energy and did a lot of good things. It just wasn’t enough in the end. It’s frustrating.”

Schreiber scored all his goals in the first half, showing no signs of rust despite having missed seven games.

“It’s the most games I’ve ever missed,” he said, combining his NLL and MLL careers in the equation. “I just tried to pick up some new things and tried to help where I could.”

The Rock, 7-9, now sit last in their division with two scheduled games left: Saturday at Buffalo and April 28 at Colorado. They could win them both and still miss the playoffs.

“We need a little help now,” Schreiber said of Toronto’s diminishing chances of qualifying for post-season play. “We’re going to focus on what we can control, get ready for Buffalo and root for whoever we have to root for going forward.”

Toronto is 5-4 with and 2-5 without Schreiber.

O’BRIEN REAPPEARS

Bill O’Brien, signed by Buffalo after being dropped by New England before the season began, dressed for his first game this season when the Bandits played in Calgary.

GOOD CAUSES

NLL teams and players are constantly raising money for charitable causes. A few examples:

• The Vancouver Stealth auctioned off game-worn sweaters donated after the team’s 20-10 home loss to Saskatchewan on Friday and raised $14,000 for the Humboldt Relief Fund for those effected by the recent bus-truck crash that claimed 16 lives in Saskatchewan. “This was a great cause no matter if you play junior hockey or junior lacrosse,” Stealth defenseman Andrew Suitor said. “You are on a bus with all your friends travelling around and it is not something you should be expecting. Our hearts are full. Everyone is behind that community, not just B.C. or Ontario but all of Canada. This game meant a lot because you always hear there are more important things than just sports and we found out the hard way that community is more important than sports.”

• The special sweaters Saskatchewan and Georgia players wore Saturday are available via online auction that will continue until this Saturday. Proceeds go to the Humboldt fund. Beside the nameplates, a Broncos patch was on the chest of every sweater.

• Saskatchewan and Calgary are donating their halves of 50-50 draws held during their home games Saturday to the Humboldt fund. The ante from Calgary will be $50,285. Saskatchewan’s ante is expected to be even greater.

• Toronto Rock goaltender Brandon Miller held a draw to determine the winner of a specially designed helmet after donations of $10,694.36 were made for Terry Fox Canada and cancer research.

PLAYOFF SCENARIOS

The NLL released playoff clinching scenarios ahead of NLL Week 20, which features three games on the schedule Saturday night.

• Buffalo can clinch a playoff berth with a win and a New England loss this week.

• Rochester can clinch a playoff berth with a win.  It can also clinch a home playoff game with a win and a Buffalo loss.

• Toronto is eliminated from playoff consideration with a loss.

The West is all sewn up. Saskatchewan has already clinched the No. 1 overall seed, with Colorado and Calgary also earning playoff berths.

The 2018 NLL regular season concludes in Week 21 with every team in action before the 2018 NLL playoffs start the weekend of May 4-6.

A total of six NLL teams, the top three clubs in each division’s standings, will qualify for the playoffs. The two regular season division champions will earn a first-round bye as the top seeds. The second seeds will host the third seeds in their respective division for the single-elimination division semifinal game in the first round. The second round of the playoffs has changed for this season and will now be played as a single-elimination contest. The top seed from each division will host the winner of the division semifinals between the second and third seeds for the division championships.

For the fourth straight year, the finals will be played as a full best-of-three series with the higher-seeded team hosting Game 1 and Game 3 (if necessary).

WEEK 20

NEW ENGLAND (8-8) at ROCHESTER (9-7)
Saturday 7:30 p.m. ET

Rochester can clinch a playoff berth.

New England won 9-8 at Rochester on Jan. 13 and 11-9 at home on Jan. 21 so already owns the standings tiebreaker.

Rochester is 5-3 at home. New England is 4-4 on the road.

Rochester is No. 2 on offense and No. 4 on defense. New England is No. 8 in both categories.

New England is coming off a 10-6 road win over Colorado, while Rochester won 14-11 in Toronto last Friday.

TORONTO (7-9) at BUFFALO (8-8)
Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ET

This is the Twitter Game of the Week.

Toronto needs to win to avoid being eliminated from contention for a playoff berth.

Two previous games were split: Buffalo won 13-9 at home Dec. 8 and Toronto won 20-13 at home Dec. 39. Buffalo is 4-3 at home. Toronto is 4-3 on the road.

Toronto has lost three in a row.

Toronto is No. 4 on offense and No. 3 on defense. Buffalo is No. 3 on offense and No. 7 on defense.

CALGARY (7-9) at VANCOUVER (2-14)
Saturday, 10 p.m. ET

This is Vancouver’s last chance to win a home game this season.

The Roughnecks have already defeated the Stealth three times: 15-12 at home Dec. 15, 20-12 at home Feb. 16 and 13-9 on the road March 3. Calgary is 2-5 on the road.

Calgary is coming off a 16-9 home win over Buffalo. Vancouver lost 20-10 at home against Saskatchewan last Friday.

Calgary is No. 6 on offense and No. 5 on defense. Vancouver is No. 9 in both categories.

BYES: Saskatchewan (13-4), Colorado (10-7), Georgia (9-7).

TIME TRAVEL

April 18, 2014: Buffalo goalie Anthony Cosmo single-season saves record, topping the previous record of 662 by Rochester’s Matt Vinc in 2013. Cosmo finished the year with 752 saves.

April 17, 2015: Colorado’ John Grant Jr. passes Gary Gait for second on the all-time goals scored list with his 636th career goal, trailing only John Tavares (815).