April 30, 2010
Blazers ready for NLL playoffs
by Staff Report/
Anthony Cosmo and the Boston Blazers will face Orlando in the NLL playoffs on Saturday night.
The Boston Blazers didn’t exactly storm into the National Lacrosse League playoffs, but that doesn’t mean they won’t feel confident in their Eastern Division semifinal contest against the Orlando Titans on Saturday night.
The Blazers have faced the No. 1 team in the Eastern Division three times this season, winning two of those games.
Saturday night’s playoff game will be held at Orlando’s Amway Arena at 7:35 p.m. The game can be seen on the NLL Network at www.nll.com.
The Blazers won the first two meetings of the season before Orlando struck back in their most recent encounter.
In the first game between the teams, Boston defeated Orlando, 13-9, at TD Garden.
On Feb. 20, the Blazers showed they could win in Orlando, defeating the Titans, 12-11, in an epic double overtime contest that is the longest game in NLL history (76 minutes, 6 seconds).
Orlando earned a measure of revenge on April 3 with a 13-10 win over the Blazers in Boston.
“There certainly won’t be any secrets between our two clubs,” Titans head coach Ed Comeau told NLL.com. “We’ve played each other a lot the last couple of years. We definitely know that we have to bring our ‘A’ game to get a win.”
The Blazers had a chance to secure their playoff fate with a win at Buffalo last weekend but were defeated by the Bandits. Needing help to land the fourth and final postseason berth in the East, Boston got in when Washington defeated Rochester.
Losing at Buffalo was disappointing for the Blazers.
“We played that game as a must-win,” Blazers coach Tom Ryan told NLL.com, “so it was very disappointing to come off on the short end of that one. Buffalo played a great game against us, and I don’t feel like we played our best.”
Both coaches expect a tight defensive affair, especially with the caliber of goaltending that will be on the field.
Orlando’s Matt Vinc is allowing just 9.51 goals per game and made a league-high 609 saves on 752 shots.
Boston counters with Anthony Cosmo, who is giving up 9.5 goals per game. Cosmo’s 79.9 save percentage ranks just below Vinc.
“I feel like both teams in this game are going to have trouble scoring goals knowing that they’re going against two of the top goaltenders in the league,” Comeau said. “It’s going to be critical for us to be the team that executes our offense a bit better than they do.”
“I would expect a low-scoring game,” Ryan said. “I think both goaltenders and both defenses, most games, average under ten goals against, except for just a few exceptions, so I would expect if a team can get over ten goals, they’re likely to win the game.”
Boston is led offensively by Dan Dawson, who has 88 points (36 goals, 52 assists).
Casey Powell is Orlando’s top scoring threat with 44 goals and 36 assists for 80 points.
