The Langley-based Stealth (5-6) defeated the Colorado Mammoth (6-5) on Sunday night, 10-6.
On Saturday night, Colorado visited Saskatchewan and took the defending National Lacrosse League champions to overtime.
With their late game theatrics, Colorado was unable to fly home until Sunday morning and the Vancouver Stealth took full advantage of the well-travelled Mammoth.
Joel McCready opened the scoring just over a minute into the game, although Colorado answered back 11 seconds later.
Vancouver added two more goals to make it 3-1 after the first 15.
The Mammoth and Stealth would trade goals in the second and at the half, Vancouver held a 5-3 lead.
Rookie Evan Messenger played in his first National Lacrosse League game and tallied his first career assist.
“I definitely had some nerves, but I set a few small goals for myself, don’t be so timid, focus on covering the top of the floor and just be a good teammate,” said Messenger.
“I don’t even know where to start, but my mom is my biggest supporter and she is a big part of my game, I like to think about my family every time I am out there.”
The third was rather quiet for the Stealth offensively, only putting up eight shots, but they did manage to strike twice and led 7-5 heading into the final frame.
The Mammoth peppered goaltender Tye Belanger with 17 shots in the fourth.
He only surrendered one goal while the Stealth added three of their own for the 10-6 victory.
“I thought we had a lot of energy, we have had those back-to-backs a couple times this season so we know full well how they feel. But we went out there and battled,” said head coach Jamie Batley.
“Tye is playing great and our defence is playing an excellent system. Transition-wise we pushed the ball up the floor and going the other way, the forwards covered on defence very well. We have changed quite a bit since we last played Buffalo and we are looking for a big crowd to fill the Langley Events Centre on Friday night.”
The Stealth will be back home this Friday, March 17, when they host the Buffalo Bandits and celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.
Tickets are available at the Langley Events Centre Box Office at 604-882-8800, or Ticket Rocket.co.
