As unfathomable as it seemed just a week ago when the Seals were mired in a five-game losing streak, they have reversed their fortunes and now head into the final weekend of the NLL regular season with a chance to control their own destiny and extend their streak of playoff seasons under Head Coach and GM Patrick Merrill.
The formula is pretty simple. Beat Las Vegas twice, Friday night in San Diego (7:30 p.m. at Pechanga Arena) and Saturday night at the Lee’s Family Forum in Henderson and they’re guaranteed in. Should the Seals split the two games against the Desert Dogs, the Seals would still get in if Georgia wins one or both of their games this weekend against Rochester. And if the Desert Dogs win both games this weekend, the Seals would be eliminated.
The Seals and Desert Dogs both come into this weekend’s games tied at 7-9, but at the moment, the Seals hold the tiebreaker advantage. Updated standings are below for the 10 teams still alive in the playoff race. Rochester, Oshawa, Calgary and Philadelphia have been eliminated.
Friday night’s game at Pechanga Arena will face off at 7:30 p.m. and it will be Fan Appreciation Night. Prizes will be given away throughout the night and the entire team will participate in an autograph session for the fans postgame.
The Seals are riding high coming into this weekend’s games, fresh off their 9-7 win over Georgia on Sunday afternoon at Gas South Arena in Duluth, GA. Wes Berg and Ben McIntosh led the way offensively as the two combined for five goals and five assists. Rookie Noah Armitage scored twice, while fellow rookie Chris Kavanagh scored his first career NLL goal. And Chris Origlieri continued his dominance between the pipes, stopping 33 of the Swarm’s 40 shots while outdueling Georgia’s Brett Dobson, who came into the game with the League’s highest save percentage and lowest goals against average.
The Seals were dominant in all phases against the Swarm. They won 15 of 19 faceoffs behind Trevor Baptiste, they scored on three of their five power play opportunities, an area where they struggled of late, and the defense forced nine turnovers. Berg led the Seals with six points on two goals and four assists, while McIntosh had a team high three goals and an assist.
The Seals are also catching the Desert Dogs at a good time as Las Vegas has dropped three straight, including an 11-5 loss to last place Philadelphia this past Saturday night.
For fans unable to make it to Pechanga Arena on Friday night, the game will be broadcast to a national cable TV audience on ESPNU and streamed to a global audience on ESPN+. Saturday night’s game in Vegas will be broadcast locally in San Diego on Spectrum Cable Channel 4 and again streamed on ESPN+.
There’s a well-known saying in sports that offense sells tickets and defense wins championships and the Seals are hoping that comes true as they’ve demonstrated that they are one of, if not the, top defensive teams in the NLL. The Seals have allowed the third-fewest goals this season (161), and Origlieri is allowing just 9.59 goals per game, fourth-lowest in the League among netminders who’ve played 850-or-more minutes. He’s stopped 79% of the shots he’s faced on the season and he’s allowed nine-or-fewer goals nine times with all nine coming in the Seals’ last 12 games.
Offensively, the Seals feel great about their chances this weekend after scoring nine goals against the League’s stingiest defense this past Sunday in Georgia. Nineteen (19) different players have found the back of the net this season with forwards Tre Leclaire (27), Wes Berg (24), Ben McIntosh (21), Dylan Watson (19) and Connor Robinson (19) leading the way.
And in the middle of the field, the Seals have two of the League’s top transition players in faceoff specialist Trevor Baptiste and Zach Currier. Baptiste, regarded by many as the top faceoff man in all of professional lacrosse, leads the League in faceoff win percentage (75%) while ranking third in faceoff wins (285) despite taking 54 less attempts than Calgary’s Justin Inacio, who leads the League with 293 faceoff wins and 25 fewer than Jake Withers of Halifax, who is second with 287.
Currier meanwhile ranks second in the NLL in loose balls secured (176) while forcing a team-leading 22 turnovers, one ahead of Danny Logan, who’s second with 21. Currier is tied with Eli Gobrecht for third on the team in blocked shots (10), one behind Graydon Bradley (11) and six behind James Barclay’s team-leading 16. As a team, the Seals have forced 145 turnovers and blocked 82 shots.
Seals-Desert Dogs Head-to-Head
The Seals hold a 5-2 all-time series edge over the Desert Dogs and are a perfect 3-0 in games played at Pechanga Arena. Last season, the Seals lost to the Desert Dogs at the Lee’s Family Forum on Jan. 18 and just shy of two months later, the Seals answered with a 20-11 win on March 16 at Pechanga Arena.
Broadcast Information:
The game will be broadcast to a national cable TV audience on ESPNU.
National Lacrosse League →