Clutch Kings: Chase for the Championship Edition

Since we last checked in, the Colorado Mammoth’s money marksmen Eli McLaughlin has stretched his lead at the top.

Buffalo Bandits rookie Tehoka Nanticoke netted his fifth game-winning goal, which currently leads the entire league and also sneaks him into second overall in the Clutch Kings. Since the league started recording & publishing game-winning goals, a rookie has never ended an NLL regular season tops in the GWG column (knock on wood).

In recent weeks, the NLL confirmed their post-season schedule and also rolled out the tagline “Chase for the Championship” as teams panic to better position themselves for the playoffs with about a month left to go.

In addition to our weekly countdown of the season’s most-clutch scorers, Clutch Kings has also examined the NLL’s all-time game-winning & over-time goal leaders. Shocker, John Grant led both lists.

With the NLL’s Chase for the Championship heating up, today we tallied the league’s all-time playoff game-winning goal getters.

Who leads that leaderboard?

Shawn Evans, Halifax Thunderbirds (Photo: Trevor MacMillan)

Since 2005 (the earliest somewhat confirmed league stats are available), there have been 112 post-season games in the NLL – yes, the minis were also counted by the league. Of those 112 contests, 70 different players have iced the outcome of a game (aka got GWGs).

Both Mark Matthews & Shawn Evans have done it the most, sealing wins six times each.

The two all-time talents are also two of only seven players to have scored two (recorded) post-season game winners in the same season. In fact, Evans has popped a pair of winners in a single postseason twice, doing it on both occasions with the Calgary Roughnecks (2014 & 2015). The others include: Mark Steenhuis (2006), Kevin Dostie (2008), Dan Dawson (2015), Miles Thompson (2017) and Jesse King (2019).

So, before we get to this week’s Clutch Kings Top 25, here are also all of those 70 players who’ve scored a (recorded!) game winner during the NLL’s playoffs (since 2005).

6

Shawn Evans, Mark Matthews

5

Dan Dawson

4

Mark Steenhuis

3

Curtis Dickson, Rhys Duch, John Grant, Stephan Leblanc, Ben McIntosh, Jeff Zywicki (who actually mentioned on IG today for a dramatically different reason)

2

Jeff Cornwall, Dane Dobbie, Kevin Dostie, Colin Doyle, Jordan Hall, Jesse King, Craig Point, Casey Powell, Andy Secore, Jeff Shattler, Dhane Smith, John Tavares, Miles Thompson

1

Mike Accursi, Ryan Benesch, Nik Bilic, Garrett Billings, Brett Bucktooth, Dan Carey, Mike Carnegie, Mark Cochrane, Travis Cornwall, Ryan Cousins, Callum Crawford, Chad Culp, Joey Cupido, Paul “Dan Dawson’s Brother” Dawson, Ryan Dilks, Matthew Dinsdale, Chase Fraser, Bill Greer, Mike Hominuck, Cody Jamieson, Tom Johnson, Stephan Keogh, Brian Langtry, Dan Linter, Brad MacDonald, Jordan MacIntosh, Blaine Manning, Kiel Matisz, Joel McCready, Mike Messenger, Brend Mundorf, Bruce Murray, Ryan Powell, Johnny Powless, Gavin Prout, Paul Rabil, Joe Resetarits, Josh Sanderson, Phil Sanderson, Tom Schreiber, Cam Sedgwick, Austin Shanks, Cliff Smith, Brendan Thenhaus, Lyle Thompson, Cory Vitarelli, Joe Walters

Dylan Kinnear & Eli McLaughlin, Colorado Mammoth

NLL Clutch Kings: Week 18

CKs Rank. Player (NLL G Rank), Team, CKs Points (GTG/GAG/GWG)

1. Eli McLaughlin (T11), Colorado, 26.75 (5/5/4)
2. Tehoka Nanticoke (T16), Buffalo, 24.00 (3/4/5)*
3. Lyle Thompson (1), Georgia, 22.50 (7/1/3)
4. Shayne Jackson (7), Georgia, 22.00 (3/3/3)
5. Josh Byrne (15), Buffalo, 21.75 (6/8/1)
6. Connor Robinson (5), Colorado, 19.00 (4/3/2)
T7. Robert Church (T11), Saskatchewan, 17.75 (7/3/1)
T7. Ryan Benesch (T22), Albany, 17.75 (2/6/1)
T9. Joe Resetarits (T3), Albany, 16.75 (5/5/1)
T9. Kyle Killen (T8), Vancouver, 16.75 (3/7/0)
T11. Phil Caputo (T22), Panther City, 16.50 (6/3/1)
T11. Austin Staats (T28), San Diego, 16.50 (5/3/2)
T11. Zach Manns (T43), Toronto, 16.50 (4/4/1)
T11. Chris Boushy (T41), Halifax, 16.50 (1/4/3)
15. Zach Herreweyers (T52), Calgary, 16.25 (2/2/3)
T16. Connor Kearnan (T11), New York, 15.50 (6/2/1)
T16. Ben McIntosh (T28), Philadelphia, 15.50 (1/5/0)
18. Blaze Riorden (T43), Philadelphia, 15.25 (2/3/2)
19. Patrick Dodds (36), Panther City, 14.50 (4/0/2)*
T20. Tyler Pace (T49), Calgary, 14.00 (5/4/0)
T20. Curtis Dickson (T22), Calgary, 14.00 (1/3/1)
T20. Stephan Leblanc (T83), Georgia, 14.00 (1/1/2)
23. Will Malcom (T34), Panther City, 13.00 (4/1/1)
24. Wes Berg (T8), San Diego, 12.75 (2/6/2)
25. Jesse King (T43), Calgary, 12.50 (4/3/2)

*Rookie

Scoring System

First 3 Quarters (GTG/GAG/GWG)

Even-Strength Goal: 1.00/1.50/2.00
Power-Play Goal: 0.50/0.75/1.00
Short-Handed Goal: 2.00/3.00/4.00

4th Quarter (GTG/GAG/GWG)

Even-Strength Goal: 2.00/3.00/4.00
Power-Play Goal: 1.00/1.50/2.00
Short-Handed Goal: 4.00/6.00/8.00

Overtime (GWG)

Even-Strength Goal: 6.00
Power-Play Goal: 3.00
Short-Handed Goal: 12.00