Vancouver Stealth fell to the Rochester Knighthawks 12-8 on Saturday night in Langley.
The Stealth opened the scoring two minutes into the first quarter and continued to outscore the Knighthawks 4-1, after 15 minutes.
Rochester pushed back in the second scoring a pair of goals in the opening two minutes. Vancouver answered with two goals of their own, to lead 6-4 after the second.
The Knighthawks scored two early goals in the first two minutes of the third but the Stealth still lead 7-6 after 45 minutes.
But much like the weather in the Lower Mainland, the game became unpredictable in the final frame.
Rochester scored the first two goals of the fourth to take an 8-7 lead, but James Rahe tied the game with less than three minutes to go.
The Langley-faithful were on their feet excited for the comeback, that feeling lasted eight seconds.
Brad Gillies scored the game winning goal at 12:27 of the fourth.
Rochester would go on to add three more goals before taking the victory.
Justin Salt scored two goals in the first eleven minutes of the game and added an assist in the second.
“We kind of just let off the gas a little bit in the second half,” said Salt.
“It is tough, we get good support from the fans and we want to battle for them and we kind of just let it go. We have been playing really well at home but it has unravelled a bit late in games.”
Tye Belanger started his fourth straight game and had a “marvelous” first half stopping 17 of 21 shots on goal and added an assist.
The last start that perennial number one goalie Tyler Richards played was on Jan. 27 against the Rush.
The Stealth return on March 4, when Saskatchewan visits the Langley Events Centre.
The Rush are currently riding a six-game winning streak but boast a 2-2 record on the road.
Tickets for the upcoming game are available at the Langley Events Centre Box Office at 604-882-8800, or Ticket Rocket.co.
About the National Lacrosse League
The National Lacrosse League (NLL) is North America’s premier professional indoor lacrosse league.
Founded in 1986, the NLL ranks third in average attendance for pro indoor sports worldwide, behind only the NHL and NBA.
The league is comprised of nine franchises across the United States and Canada: Buffalo Bandits, Calgary Roughnecks, Colorado Mammoth, Georgia Swarm, New England Black Wolves, Rochester Knighthawks, Saskatchewan Rush, Toronto Rock and Vancouver Stealth.
