Blazers Beat Washington Stealth 11 - 9
By Dan Ventresca for NLL.com
Boston, MA (Feb 27, 2010) -In a back-and-forth game that was tied nine different times, the Boston Blazers (5-4) held onto an 11-9 win over the Washington Stealth (6-3) Saturday night at the TD Garden.
Blazer captain and leading scorer Dan Dawson scored twice in the final six minutes of the game and finished the game with three goals and three assists.
With the game tied at nine with 5:30 left to play, Dawson cut right in front of Washington goalie Tyler Richards and beat with a shot while diving across the goal mouth. Just four minutes later Dawson pulled almost exactly the same move, giving Boston a two-goal advantage it would not relinquish.
“A lot of times this season I haven't been taking the ball to the net as much as I should,” Dawson said. “When it comes to the fourth quarter, crunch time, sometimes I've been a bit too passive, and I think that's hurt the team. So, I've started this second half with a new mindset that near the end of the game I want the ball on my stick. I'll take the pressure if we lose the game.”
Boston has now won five of its last six games while the Stealth are riding a three-game losing streak.
“I think last year we struggled a little bit at home,” Blazers coach Tom Ryan said, “and I'm really glad to see that we're really buckling down in those close wins at home.”
“We're very close to being a great team,” Dawson said. “[There were] mental errors out there, but we don't want to let imperfection impede progress, but in the second half of the season, this is a great start.”
With the Blazers leading 2-1 early in the second quarter, Washington transition Paul Rabil drilled Boston forward Gary Bining from behind into the boards earning him a five-minute major. The two teams combined to score four goals during the penalty – two apiece, bringing the score to 4-3 Boston. Curtis Hodgson and Tom Johnson tallied the goals for Washington and Dawson and Brenden Thenhaus answered for the Blazers.
Johnson notched his second goal of the game, tying the score at four with seven minutes left in the first half. The tie wouldn't last long as Daryl Veltman scored just 30 seconds later on a quick pass from Dawson. Veltman came into the game just four points behind Dawson for the team lead.
The teams went into the locker room with the Blazers up 5-4. Goalie Anthony Cosmo made 20 saves in the half. The former all-pro goalie came into the game ranked fourth in the league in goals against average with 9.45. Boston held Washington's leading scorer, Jeff Zywicki to just an assist in the half.
Rhys Duch netted two goals in the third quarter and Peter Morgan also beat Cosmo with 5:25 left in the third, putting Washington on top 7-6. Thenhaus scorched the net for his second goal of three on the night and the game went into the fourth quarter tied at seven.
Boston outscored the Stealth 4-2 in the final quarter and after Dawson's second goal, Ryan called a timeout to tighten his defense in the final minute-and-a-half.
“We were getting a little frustrated that we were giving up some quality shots,” Ryan said. “We were just making sure that we were shutting off the creases, not giving up anything easy.”
Boston will enjoy an off week while Washington will travel to Calgary.
Photo by Larry Palumbo