The Seals achieved their goal of earning a spot in the National Lacrosse League’s eight-team playoff field and now that they’ve done so, they’ll look to make a deep run. That run starts this Saturday (April 25) with a single-game elimination quarterfinal playoff showdown against the Colorado Mammoth inside Denver’s Ball Arena. Faceoff is 6 p.m. PT.
The Seals have now made the playoffs in all six of their full NLL seasons under Head Coach and General Manager Patrick Merrill.
Now that the Seals are in the postseason tournament, they’ll hope that the third time is the charm as twice it’s been Colorado that’s eliminated the Seals from the playoffs. In 2022, the Mammoth defeated the Seals two games to one in the Western Conference Finals and in 2023, they beat the Seals in a single-game elimination first round matchup, but the past is the past and it’s all about Saturday’s showdown inside Ball Arena and the Seals are coming in hot.
The Seals won two of their last three games to earn their spot in the playoffs and they did it by filling the net at a high volume. They scored 39 total goals in those three games, including a season-high tying 16 in the regular season finale on Saturday night in Las Vegas. Colorado meanwhile comes into Saturday night’s game off a 9-8 loss to Calgary that cost them the No. 1 seed in the playoffs. The Mammoth also lost the week prior in Saskatchewan and come in having dropped four of their last six.
To be successful on Saturday night, the Seals will lean on their defense to slow the NLL’s second-highest scoring offense during the regular season. The Mammoth scored 206 goals, tied with Saskatchewan for second, and were led by forwards Andrew Kew and Will Malcom. Kew’s 45 goals tied for second in the League this year, while Malcom added 36. The duo combined for five goals when the teams met in Denver during the regular season. Still, prior to allowing 30 goals in the last two games against Vegas, the Seals had been one of the stingiest teams in the League throughout the regular season
And while the Mammoth have two high-powered scorers, the Seals field a more balanced offense that features 20 different players who scored goals this season, led by forwards Tre Leclaire (31), Ben McIntosh (28) and Wes Berg (26) and Connor Robinson (22).
In the middle of the field, the Seals have two of the League’s top transition players in Zach Currier and faceoff specialist Trevor Baptiste. Currier enters the playoffs on an absolute tear after scoring six goals in the Seals’ last two games, including a career-high five in the Seals’ second-to-last game against Las Vegas, and he finished the regular season tied with Robinson for fifth on the squad in goals scored (22). Currier always ranks among the League leaders in loose balls secured and this season was no exception as his 200 were second to Halifax’s Jake Withers, who paced the NLL with 223. And on the defensive end, Currier’s 23 caused turnovers led the Seals and tied for ninth in the League, while defenseman Danny Logan finished right behind Currier with 22.
Baptiste meanwhile continued his dominance in the faceoff circle, leading the League in both faceoff wins (327) and faceoff win percentage (75%), four percentage points clear of Withers, who was second at 71%.
Seals-Mammoth Head-to-Head
The Seals are 11-4 all-time against the Mammoth in the regular season and just 1-3 in the playoffs, but that lone win came inside Ball Arena. In regular season play, the Seals are 6-4 against the Mammoth at Ball Arena and 5-0 inside Pechanga Arena.
Broadcast Information:
The game will be broadcast on national cable TV on ESPNU and streamed to a global audience on ESPN+.
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