The Maple Ridge Burrards, playing again without four of their top offensive players, fell 7-6 to the Victoria Shamrocks on Sunday at Cam Neely Arena.
Curtis Dickson, who leads the WLA with 37 goals and 61 points in 11 games, and Ben McIntosh missed the past two games while away with Team Canada for the FIL World Lacrosse Championships in Israel.
Ryley Lowen missed the weekend games for family reasons, while Dan Taylor is set to rejoin the team July 15.
With the loss on Sunday, the Burrards (8-3-1-1) are now just two points ahead of Victoria (8-4), which has a game in hand.
The Burrards trailed 4-1 early in the second period, but closed the gap to 5-4 before the third.
Zack Porter scored unassisted 6:11 into the final frame to tie the score 6-6. But Tyson Gibson scored the winner for Victoria at 17:13.
Mike Mallory paced the Burrards with two goals and an assist. Frank Scigliano made 44 saves for the Burrards, who were outshot 51-40.
Victoria was 3-6 on the powerplay, while Ridge was 3-9.
The Burrards were 0-3 with the man advantage on Saturday, when they downed the last-place Adanacs 7-5 in Coqutilam.
Chase McIntyre paced the Burrards with a hat-trick. Jeff Cornwall added a pair.
Adam Dickson had a goal and two assists, while Mallory collected three helpers. Owen Barker also scored, and Scigliano stopped 40 0f 45 shots for the win.
Burrards GM Lance Andre expects the team to have its full line-up in place for the last regular season game on July 24.
“We just want to be well rested for the playoffs.”
UP NEXT: The Burrards play the Langley Thunder on Wednesday, then host Nanaimo next Sunday, 6:45 p.m.
