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Winning Streak Hits Three As Malawsky Hits Milestone, 16-13

February 8, 2009 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Portland Lumberjax News Release


PORTLAND, February 7, 2009 - The San Jose Stealth left the Rose Garden like every one of the 6,943 in attendance Saturday, shaking their heads in disbelief at Portland LumberJax forward Derek Malawsky's historic performance. With his fourth quarter assist, Malawsky became the eighth player in National Lacrosse League history with 200 goals, 400 assists and 600 points. Malawsky (2 goals, 2 assists) and forward Ryan Powell (3 goals, 2 assists) fueled the offense as the Jax (4-3) recorded a season-high 16 goals en route to a 16-13 win over the San Jose Stealth (2-4) Saturday night at the Rose Garden Arena. Portland is now on a three-game winning streak and sits above .500 for the first time since the team was 2-1 early in the 2007 season.

"We're a team that likes to grind out wins a lot of hard fought wins," said Head Coach/General Manager Derek Keenan. "Tonight it was important to keep our composure and keep up with all of the scoring, especially in the second-half as the game became kind of a shootout."

Malawsky joins the likes of John Tavares, Colin Doyle, Gary Gait, Josh Sanderson, John Grant Jr., Shaun Williams and Gavin Prout in the 200-400-600 club.

"It feels great," said Malawsky. "But, at this stage in my career, a championship is what I want."

The Stealth scored 33 seconds into the game before Powell knotted the game at one with 14:20 left in the quarter. Then , Portland took the lead as forward Cory Conway (2 goals, 2 assists) scored off passes from forwards Tim Campeau (4 assists) and Dan Stroup (1 goal, 2 assists) with 12:53 left in the quarter.

San Jose would score twice before the Jax tied the game at three after one quarter of play. On the power play, forward Peter Jacobs (2 goals, 1 assist) scored off a pass from forward Peter Morgan (2 goals, 4 assists).

Portland took the lead at 4-3 with 10:15 left in the second quarter as Malawsky sent a blistering shot past Stealth goalie Matt Roik. Conway and forward Scott Stewart (1 goal, 2 assists) were credited with assists on the goal. Defenseman Brodie Merrill (1 goal, 1 assist, 13 loose balls) followed with a goal in transition to push the lead to 5-3 with 7:32 left in the half.

The scoring deluge continued as P. Morgan scored on the power play with 5:49 left in the half to make it 6-3. Powell added another goal with 4:35 left before transition player Tyler Codron scored 15 seconds later to give the Jax an 8-3 lead.

San Jose would add a late goal to cut the lead to 8-4 at the half.

Portland opened the half with two goals before San Jose cut the lead to 10-7 with three straight goals. With 14:10 left, Malawsky scored and then P. Morgan scored with 13:18 left in the third quarter.

Up three, Portland closed the quarter on a 2-0 run to make it 12-7 entering the fourth quarter. Powell notched the hat trick with 41 seconds left and then Stewart scored off defenseman Pat Jones' face-off win with 30 seconds left.

After San Jose started the fourth quarter with a goal, defenseman Richard Morgan (1 goal, 1 assist) scored off a Stewart pass to make it 13-8.

After two San Jose goals, Conway scored off a pass from Malawsky with 9:43 left to make it 14-10 and record Malawsky's historic milestone.

The Stealth would score three more times and the Jax would add two more goals to make the final score 16-13. Stroup added a goal with 3:11 left and Jacobs scored on a penalty shot with 1:41 to go.

Tempers flared with 1:37 left as Codron and Stealth transition player Kyle Hartzell exchanged pleasantries. Both were subsequently penalized five minutes for fighting.

Goalie Matt Disher stopped 45 of the 58 shots he faced and transition player Jamision Koesterer added an assists in his first home game.

The Jax continue their homestand on Saturday, February 28th as they host the Philadelphia Wings at 7:30 p.m.

Notes: Portland is 19-8 all-time when eight or more players score at least one goal in a game..Jacobs has scored a goal in eight straight games.

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