PORTLAND, Ore. – Brian Langtry lit up two different goaltenders and the Colorado Mammoth and Portland LumberJax lit up the scoreboard in a wild National Lacrosse League game on Thursday night at the Rose Garden.
Langtry posted a career-high and Mammoth-record nine goals, but it wasn’t enough to outgun the LumberJax, who held on for a 16-15 victory in front of 6,182 fans.
Goaltender Gee Nash took the loss after allowing a season-high 16 goals, while the Mammoth accrued 23 penalty minutes and was outshot 63-50.
Langtry scored four times in the fourth quarter on Portland goalie Matt King, including one on a diving, behind-the-back shot and two consecutive goals late in the game that tied the score at 15-15. But Portland’s Dan Dawson faked out the Mammoth defense and fed Pete Jacobs for the game-winning goal 1:06 left on the clock.
“Give credit to Portland,” Mammoth coach Bob McMahon said. “They kept us off balance and took advantage of their scoring opportunities.”
The Mammoth fell to 6-4 and held a half-game edge over San Jose in the West Division. Portland improved to 4-7.
Langtry scored his fifth goal of the game in the third quarter on an outside shot that beat Portland goaltender Dallas Eliuk through the legs, giving the Mammoth a 9-7 lead. The LumberJax substituted Eliuk for King and promptly went on a four-goal run to reclaim the advantage at 11-9.
The Jax power play was clicking in the second quarter as Mammoth players filed in and out of the penalty box. Portland reeled off four consecutive goals, all with the man-advantage, to take a 6-5 lead into halftime. The Jax converted 5-of-7 power plays in the first half and 6-of-9 overall. The Mammoth scored on 3-of-5 power-play chances.
After building a 3-2 lead in the first quarter the Mammoth scored two quick goals to open the second. Langtry scored his third goal of the game just 52 seconds in, and Wulder made it 5-2 less than a minute later when he buried the rebound of a Langtry shot.
Langtry led all scorers with 13 points while Dan Carey led the Mammoth with five assists. Dawson had a team-high four goals for the Jax while teammate Derek Malawsky tallied a game-high seven assists.
Gill debuts
After spending all of last year on the practice squad and being a healthy scratch for the first nine games of this season, Mammoth rookie Chris Gill made his NLL debut and tallied an assist just 2:43 into the game. Gill, a 6-foot-2, 225-pound defenseman from Oakton, Va., made his physical presence felt early as well, laying a forceful hit on LumberJax forward Richard Morgan that broke up a scoring chance.
