K'Hawks' furious rally halts Express, 13-10
7-0 run to close game turns home loss into big win
Chad Gambone (Outsider's Guide Game Correspondent)

The Rochester Knighthawks ran off seven unanswered goals in the final seven-and-a-half minutes of play, turning an apparent 10-6 defeat at the hands of the visiting Montreal Express into a crowd-pleasing 13-10 victory before 8,349 fans in the Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial in downtown Rochester.

The Knighthawks came into this game with a two-game losing streak, in which they had not played at anywhere near the level they had in their 7-1 first half. The Express came into the game on a three-game winning streak, recapturing its early season momentum after a slump.

Curt Malawsky opened the scoring just 104 seconds in, one of two Knighthawk shorthanded goals of the night. Then, the defenses tightened up significantly, and there were few chances until Ted Dowling found the net eight minutes later. Bryan Bendig tallied on the power play for Montreal, then Tracey Kelusky made in 3-1, with all three goals scored in under two minutes. John Grant closed the gap to one a minute later, then the Knighthawks would get a 'goal' by Shawn Williams with just one tick remaining to even the score at three. The goal was allowed, but Williams was clearly in the crease at the time.

John Grant got the Knighthawks off to a good start in the second quarter, but Kelusky had other ideas for the stanza. The Express got the next three goals, including two by Kelusky and one by Peter Lough, to regain their two-goal cushion. Again, the defenses allowed very few goals for a long stretch of lacrosse, but Cory Bomberry beat Palidwor with thirteen seconds left to close the game at 6-5.

Once again, Grant evened the score early in the quarter, but after that, Montreal goaltender Curtis Palidwor and the Express defense set up a wall. Kelusky scored 50 seconds after Grant to give the Express the lead back, then another stretch of goalless lacrosse. This time, it took over ten minutes for Dean Harrison to score and give the Express a two-goal cushion. Jason Crosbie tallied with just 28 seconds to go to expand the lead to 9-6 for Montreal.

Dowling scored four minutes into the fourth to increase the Montreal lead to 10-6. Disappointed K'Hawk fans began to boo the home side, which had been held scoreless for eighteen minutes. Another three-and-a-half minutes would pass before Derek Malawsky finally broke through to close the K'Hawks to 10-7 with seven-and-a-half to go. Fortunately for Rochester, Malawsky's goal open the flood gates. Tim Soudan and Grant scored 55 seconds apart to close to 10-9. Derek Malawsky tied it, and six seconds later D'Arcy Sweet gave the Hawks their first lead since 4-3. Grant scored with just under two minutes to go, and Pat Cougevan ended the scoring by tallying into an empty net.

The win send the Hawks to 8-3, and remain one game behind Central Division frontrunner Albany. The Express is 6-4, firmly entrenched into the third position of the Central. These two teams finish their home-and-home series next Sunday afternoon in Montreal.

Game Report reprinted with permission from The Outsider's Guide to the NLL. (Original text is here.)