Minnesota Edges Portland In Overtime, 14-13

February 10, 2008 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Portland Lumberjax News Release


SAINT PAUL, Minn., February 10, 2008 - Forward Peter Morgan scored a season-high four goals, but it was not enough as the Portland LumberJax (1-5) fell to the Minnesota Swarm 14-13 in overtime on Sunday in front of 11,244 at the Xcel Energy Center. The Swarm scored 44-seconds into the overtime period, as Ryan Cousins beat goalie Matt King to keep Minnesota perfect at 5-0. The Jax were led by P. Morgan's four goals, defenseman Brodie Merrill's four assists and forward Ryan Powell's six points (1 goal, 5 assists).

The Swarm scored the first two goals of the contest, but Portland got on the board when defenseman Pat Jones (1 goal, 1 assist) scored his first goal of the season and the first in his three-year Jax career at the 8:37 mark. After another Swarm goal, the Jax came back with the final two scores of the quarter to tie the game at three. With 3:38 left, P. Morgan cut through the Minnesota defense for his first goal since Jan. 24. Merrill and defenseman Richard Morgan (1 goal, 3 assists) were credited with assists on the goal.

Portland evened the game up at three when P. Morgan weaved through the Swarm defense for the second time and beat goalie Nick Patterson with 38-seconds left in the quarter. Powell and Dan Dawson (1 goal, 1 assist) assisted on P. Morgan's second goal of the game.

The 4-0 run continued into the second quarter as the Jax netted the first two goals of the quarter. Goalie Dallas Eliuk sent an outlet pass to a surging Merrill, who worked the ball deep into the Minnesota zone. Merrill and Powell worked a series of back-and-forth passes before Powell scored with 14:09 left in the half.

Forward Derek Malawsky (1 goal, 1 assist) culminated the run when the nine-year veteran scored off a rebound to make it 5-3 in favor of the boys in plaid with 11:04 remaining. Powell and P. Morgan assisted on the goal.

The Swarm finally ended their 18-minute, 50-second scoring drought when Chad Culp beat Eliuk with 3:44 left to trim the Jax to 5-4 at the end of the half. Tempers flared for much of the half as both teams combined for 35 penalty minutes.

25-seconds into the second half, Culp scored his second goal of the game to tie it at five. Then, the real fun began.

Portland took its second lead of the game when P. Morgan scored with 7:47 left in the third quarter. Hovering around the Swarm goal, P. Morgan took a pass from Powell and beat the outmatched Patterson.

The lead was short lived as Minnesota tied the game for the third time with 6:38 left in the third quarter.

Keeping theme with the back-and-forth nature of the game, both teams traded the next four goals to tie it at eight. Ray Guze scored off transition passes from Merrill and Tyler Codron with 5:06 left and then the Swarm evened it up with 3:52 left in the third.

Then, P. Morgan scored his fourth goal of the game with 1:36 left before the Swarm tied the game for the fifth time with 46-seconds left in the third quarter.

Before the quarter could end, Minnesota scored again as Andy Secore netted a goal with 15-seconds left to give the Swarm their first lead since the first quarter at 9-8. To recap, the wild and crazy third quarter saw eight combined goals, four ties and two lead changes.

The lead did not last long as R. Morgan scored off a pass from Jones 13-seconds into the fourth quarter to tie it at nine.

Like the majority of the game, the tie was short lived as Minnesota scored two goals in the next two minutes to take an 11-9 advantage.

Cory Conway (2 goals) was not to be outdone as the rookie forward fired a bullet past Patterson with 12:11 left to cut the lead to one. The goal was Conway's second of his young career. Both Malawsky and Powell assisted on the goal.

The Jax evened the game for the seventh tie when Scott Stewart sent an outlet pass to Dawson, who beat Patterson one-on-one with 9:41 left in regulation. Before Patterson could blink, Portland came back and scored 19-seconds later as Brad MacDonald scored his first goal of the season to give the Jax a 12-11 lead with 9:25 to play.

Minnesota would tie the game with 8:07 to play, but Conway would come back with another goal for the 13-12 Portland lead. Late in the shot clock, Conway sent a laser into the side netting with 7:01 left. Former Swarm forward Spencer Martin (2 assists) and defenseman Mike Kilby tallied assists on the goal that is a new season-high for Portland.

With 4:40 left, the Swarm tied the game for the ninth time as Secore beat Eliuk.

With 4:02 left in the fourth, the Jax got a scare as Eliuk took a hard shot from Secore in the leg. Eliuk was helped off the field and King came in to play the rest of regulation and the 44-seconds of overtime before Cousins put in the game winner.

Eliuk made a season-high 40 saves before exiting. King stopped six of the seven shots he faced.

Minnesota was led Secore's eight points (4 goals, 4 assists) and Craig Point's nine points (4 goals, 5 assists). Former LumberJax Ryan Sharp collected seven loose balls and Mike Hominuck added four assists.

Notes: With his four goals, P. Morgan re-took the franchise lead in goals scored (47)...Powell has now scored at least one point in all 33 career regular season games he's appeared in with Portland...Powell has tallied an assist in 32 straight regular season games...P. Morgan has scored at least one point in all 35 career regular season games he's appeared in with the Jax...Jones collected a Jax career-high 19 loose balls...The Jax wore their plaid jerseys for the second time this season...Portland is now 1-3 all-time in overtime games.

Portland plays the first of three consecutive home games on Sunday, February 17 at 3 p.m. against the Edmonton Rush at the Rose Garden Arena.



National Lacrosse League Stories from February 10, 2008


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