Clutch Kings: The NLL GOATs that consistently got it done during the playoffs
Rhys Duch, Calgary Roughnecks, 2019 NLL Cup (Photo: Candice Ward)
The Lax Mag’s Clutch Kings tracks an individual player’s game-tying, go-ahead and game-winning goals, then weighs them based on when they’re scored (first, second, third or fourth quarter, plus OT), but also in what on-floor situation they’re finished (even-strength, power-play or short-handed goals). The Clutch Kings countdown calculates the league’s most money goal scorer all season long, crowning the king at the conclusion of the current NLL campaign. Click here for a more detailed breakdown of Clutch Kings scoring.
John Grant, Rochester Knighthawks (Photo: Larry Palumbo)
As part of The Lax Mag’s Clutch Kings series, in addition to monitoring today’s most money goal getters, we’ve also hit rewind and examined the National Lacrosse League’s all-time game-winning goal scorers and even those that have scored the most in overtime too.
Spoiler alert: John Grant led both of those lists. Shocking, we know.
All of those numbers were taken from regular seasons, but with the 2023 playoffs right around the corner, today we’re taking a closer look at the players whose goals have won games in the postseason, plus the small pool of players that have netted a winner that captured a Cup.
As we’ve explained in our previous Clutch Kings all-time editions, due to NLL data accuracy & availability, we’re only able to go as far back as 2005. With that said, after some strenuous statistical deep dives this week, we were able to confirm a bit more this time around. We’ll explain later.
So firstly, who has scored the most recorded playoff game-winning goals? It’s actually a tie between two active NLLers, although neither will be playing in this year’s postseason.
The Saskatchewan Rush’s Mark Matthews & Vancouver Warriors’ Shawn Evans both have six career game-winning goals in the playoffs.
Mark Matthews, Saskatchewan Rush (Photo: Brent Just)
Matthews is the only player in NLL history to have a postseason GWG in five consecutive seasons (2014-2018), during which time he won three NLL Cups with the Edmonton & Saskatchewan Rush.
Evans remains the only player to have two on-record playoff GWGs in two separate seasons, achieving that double with the Calgary Roughnecks in 2014 & 2015. What makes Evans’ two-in-two seasons even more impressive is that since 2005, there have only been ten instances where a player has scored winners twice in a single postseason, only nine players total after subtracting Evans’ x2. The last time it happened was actually last year when the Colorado Mammoth’s Zed Williams iced games against Calgary & San Diego, and the Seals’ Dane Dobbie did the same versus Philadelphia and an OT thriller against Williams and the Woolies. More on extra-frame finishers in a bit.
Shawn Evans, Vancouver Warriors (Photo: Jordan Leigh)
Here are all the players that have scored winners in the playoffs since 2005, plus how many total they’ve recorded:
6 goals
Mark Matthews and Shawn Evans
5 goals
Dan Dawson
4 goals
Dane Dobbie and Mark Steenhuis
3 goals
Ben McIntosh, Curtis Dickson, Dhane Smith, Jeff Zywicki, John Grant, Rhys Duch and Stephan Leblanc
2 goals
Andy Secore, Casey Powell, Chase Fraser, Colin Doyle, Craig Point, Jeff Cornwall, Jeff Shattler, Jesse King, John Tavares, Jordan Hall, Kevin Dostie, Miles Thompson and Zed Williams
1 goal
Austin Shanks, Bill Greer, Blaine Manning, Brad MacDonald, Brendan Mundorf, Brendan Thenhaus, Brett Bucktooth, Brian Langtry, Bruce Murray, Callum Crawford, Cam Sedgwick, Chad Culp, Challen Rogers, Chris Wardle, Cliff Smith, Cody Jamieson, Connor Fields, Cory Vitarelli, Dan Carey, Dan Lintner, Dylan Kinnear, Eli McLaughlin, Garrett Billings, Gavin Prout, Joe Resetarits, Joe Walters, Joel McCready, Joey Cupido, Johnny Powless, Josh Sanderson, Kiel Matisz, Lyle Thompson, Mark Cochrane, Matthew Dinsdale, Mike Accursi, Mike Carnegie, Mike Hominuck, Mike Messenger, Nick Weiss, Nik Bilic, Paul Dawson, Paul Rabil, Phil Sanderson, Ryan Benesch, Ryan Cousins, Ryan Dilks, Ryan Powell, Stephen Keogh, Tom Johnson, Tom Schreiber and Travis Cornwall
Rhys Duch, Saskatchewan Rush
From counting the published postseason winners via the league’s old Pointstreak pages (or NLLStats.com, which has been an inviable resource this season), since 2005, there has never been a player to score more than one NLL Cup-winning goal. Last year it was the Mammoth’s Chris Wardle that was credited with the team’s Cup-clinching finish, Rhys Duch doing the same in OT with the Roughnecks the time before that.
In fact, Duch is one of only four players since 1987 (yep, we were able to confirm via NLLStats.com and then watching various games on YouTube to ID scorers), the league’s first-ever season, to score a Cup-winning goal in OT. The others? John Tavares with the Buffalo Bandits in 1992 (not included in the since-2005 totals above obviously), Gary Gait with the Philadelphia Wings (1.0) in 1995, and Miles Thompson with the Georgia Swarm in 2017 (Thompson also scored the Game 1 winner, albeit not in OT, in the NLL Finals that year). And before anyone asks, those short-lived mini games were definitely not an OT situation, although they did deliver overtime-like drama.
John Tavares, Buffalo Bandits
Only two players have ever scored a postseason OT winner more than once, and we’ve already highlighted both of them for other GWG accomplishments: Evans & Dobbie.
Evans scored in OT in 2014 while playing for Calgary (that goal was actually assisted by Dobbie) and again in 2016 with the New England Black Wolves. A day after Evans scored his second career OT winner in the playoffs, Dobbie got his first with Calgary. The current Seals forward also had that previously mentioned OT winner last year when San Diego extended their season in Denver. For those that forgot Dobbie’s last one, you may remember the lasting image of Dane scoring and then immediately sprinting off the floor to presumably get ready for the series-deciding Game 3 of the West Final.
In total, there have been 19 NLL playoff games decided in OT going all the way back to 1987. We were able to confirm who’s scored them all:
2 goals
Dane Dobbie and Shawn Evans
1 goal
Jeff Goldberg, John Tavares, Gary Gait, Derek Malawsky, Blaine Manning, Brian Langtry, Casey Powell, Challen Rogers, Jeff Shattler, Jeff Zywicki, Joey Cupido, John Grant, Miles Thompson, Paul Rabil and Rhys Duch
In at least two of those postseason instances, we were able to confirm that those games were decided in double OT: Jeff Goldberg’s winner in the 1989 MILL Semifinals for the New York Saints versus the Detroit Turbos, and then Toronto Rock rookie Blaine Manning’s goal (again, not noted in the 2005-and-after numbers from earlier) in front of nearly 15K at the Air Canada Centre against the Gait-led Washington Power during a drama-filled 2002 SF.
If you clicked on either of the earlier links to other all-time GWG lists we pulled (GWGs & OTGWGs), you’ll notice that quite often, the same names pop up time and time again. Is clutch scoring achieved by chance or are these players wired just a bit differently, a switch deep inside their dome triggered when the game is on the line?
Below, see our updated Clutch Kings leaderboard for the current regular season. With only a weekend to go, will Colorado’s Connor Robinson remain #1 or will a number of in-range names steal his spot at the top? Also worth noting, nine of the names on our Top 25ish below have also appeared in our all-time talk above. Fluke? No way.
NLL Clutch Kings: Week 21
CKs Rank. Player (NLL Gs Rank), Team, CKs Points (GTG/GAG/GWG)
1. Connor Robinson (T23), Colorado, 31.25 (3/7/4)
2. Connor Fields (T2), Rochester, 29.50 (9/6/2)
3. Joe Resetarits (14), Philadelphia, 25.75 (4/6/3)
4. Josh Byrne (T12), Buffalo, 25.25 (6/5/3)
5. Robert Church (T2), Saskatchewan, 25.00 (6/5/2)
6. Dhane Smith (T20), Buffalo, 24.25 (5/5/3)
7. Blaze Riorden (T28), Philadelphia, 21.75 (5/5/1)
8. Randy Staats (T23), Halifax, 20.50 (0/7/3)
9. Austin Staats (T23), San Diego, 20.00 (1/6/4)
10. Ryan Smith (T23), Rochester, 18.00 (3/7/1)
11. Will Malcom (T18), Panther City, 17.25 (6/3/2)
12. Ben McIntosh (17), Philadelphia, 16.50 (3/2/3)
13. Lyle Thompson (T5), Georgia, 16.25 (2/5/2)
14. Zed Williams (T20), Colorado, 16.00 (6/3/2)
T15. Ryan Benesch (T32), Halifax, 15.00 (7/6/0)
T15. Chris Boushy (T23), Halifax, 15.00 (6/5/0)
T15. Connor Kelly (31), Albany, 15.00 (5/3/1)
T18. Jesse King (10), Calgary, 14.75 (3/4/2)
T18. Jon Phillips (T54), Las Vegas, 14.75 (2/3/2)*
20. Keegan Bal (T20), Vancouver, 14.50 (5/6/0)
T21. Holden Cattoni (16), Rochester, 14.00 (3/5/1)
T21. Clarke Petterson (T35), Halifax, 14.00 (4/1/3)
T21. Rob Hellyer (T50), Las Vegas, 14.00 (5/1/2)
24. Stephen Keogh (T38), Toronto, 13.75 (2/2/3)
*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
Fourth 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