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Boston Falls to Toronto in Overtime Battle

January 21, 2011 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Boston Blazers News Release


Boston, MA-The Boston Blazers traveled to the Air Canada Centre Friday evening to take on division rivals, the Toronto Rock. With a tumultuous off-season between the two teams involving restricted free agents and new coaches, the night's match-up was surely one to be seen.

With a back and forth battle throughout the entire game, the Blazers came up short in overtime 15-14 with the final goal of the night by Rock stand-out Stephan Leblanc.

Leblanc started the scoring early knocking in a shorthanded goal at the 2:14 mark in the first quarter but Blazers captain Dan Dawson would quickly countered off an assist by Casey Powell.

Boston's Kevin Buchanan scored at the 7:27 mark, his first of five goals on the night. Powell finished the quarter with a quick fake out pass on the power play to tie it 3-3. Buchanan recorded two more goals in the second quarter including a solid strike from the outside assisted once again by Dawson and Powell.

The Rock would take the lead in the second quarter as Leblanc notched two more goals making it 7-5 moving into halftime.

Boston struggled coming out of the half as Toronto's Kasey Beirnes scored his 200th career goal off an assist by Garrett Billings and Blaine Manning bringing the Rock's lead to three. However, Buchanan and Powell began the Blazers comeback scoring four combined goals in less than five minutes bringing the score back within two.

Blazers Ryan Hotaling scored a momentum changing goal at the 7:23 mark in the fourth tying the score, 11-11 but Toronto would not be silenced as Sandy Chapman, Aaron Pascas, and Rock captain Colin Doyle bucketed three consecutive points making it 14-11 at the 12:38 mark.

Blazers All-Stars Dawson and Powell would not disappoint as they along with Buchanan and Josh Sanderson made a final push in the final two minutes of the game. Dawson would score first off assists by Powell and Sanderson that was then followed by two back-to-back goals by Buchanan and Powell to tie the game 14-14 at the end of regulation.

Overtime continued its scoring battle until the 8:56 mark when Leblanc came up big for the Rock once more knocking in the final goal of the night.

Despite the strong offensive battle throughout the evening, the defensive moves of Anthony Cosmo in goal kept the Blazers alive into overtime. Cosmo had 45 saves on 60 shots on goal while Toronto's Bob Watson had 38 saves on 52 shots on goal.

Buchanan and Powell led the Blazers with five goals each while Dawson had seven assists. Toronto's Leblanc finished with five goals and four assists.

The Blazers return home tomorrow evening to the TD Garden at 7:30pm to take on the Rochester Knighthawks. Tickets are still available at blazerslacrosse.com or by calling 888-BLAZERS.



National Lacrosse League Stories from January 21, 2011


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