For the second straight season, a Colorado Mammoth forward has taken the crown in The Lax Mag’s Clutch Kings series – where we track every player’s game-tying, go-ahead and game-winning goals, then weigh them based on when they’re scored (first, second, third, fourth quarter or OT), but also in what on-floor situation they’re finished (even-strength, power-play or short-handed goals). Click here for a more detailed breakdown of Clutch Kings scoring.

Connor Robinson, who opened the 2022-23 NLL regular season as our leader and stayed there for most of the year (only Rochester’ Connor Fields & Buffalo’s Dhane Smith ranked ahead of him for a handful of weeks), is this year’s Clutch King. A season ago it was teammate Eli McLaughlin who led our season-ending leaderboard. Several weeks later, the deadly Denver duo helped the Mammoth capture an unlikely NLL Cup, but maybe it shouldn’t have been such a shock to so many.

Connor Robinson, Colorado Mammoth (Photo: Jack Dempsey)

McLaughlin again placed on our end-of-year list (T29), but ahead of him was Colorado power forward Zed Williams (15), who last year elevated his game to another level during the playoffs, one which the Mammoth were missing McLaughlin for a few, plus MVP contender Ryan Lee.

A number of weeks back, we outlined why Colorado’s continued clutch touch makes them a handful to play against as games get more and more meaningful.

While our Clutch Kings scoring system (scroll past our leaderboard for our money-scoring math or click here for more) takes into account when & how a goal is scored, below see this year’s straight-up game-trying, go-ahead and game-winning goal leaders:

Connor Fields, Rochester Knighthawks (Michael Hetzel)

Game-Tying Goals

Connor Fields, Rochester (9)
Zack Greer, Las Vegas (9)

Ryan Benesch, Halifax (8)

Zed Williams, Colorado (7)

Josh Byrne, Buffalo (6)
Robert Church, Saskatchewan (6)
Will Malcom, Panther City (6)
Chris Boushy, Halifax (6)
Connor Kelly, Albany (6)

Randy Staats, Halifax Thunderbirds (Photo: Trevor McMillan)

Go-Ahead Goals

Randy Staats, Halifax (7)
Connor Robinson, Colorado (7)
Austin Staats, San Diego (7)
Ryan Smith, Rochester (7)

Connor Fields, Rochester 6)
Ryan Benesch, Halifax (6)
Joe Resetarits, Philadelphia (6)
Keegan Bal, Vancouver (6)

Austin Staats, San Diego Seals (Photo: Mike McGinnis)

Game-Winning Goals

Austin Staats, San Diego (5)

Connor Robinson, Colorado (4)
Ben McIntosh, Philadelphia (4)
12 tied with 3 GWGs

Plus, with the start of the NLL Playoffs just days away, below see who each postseason team’s Top 4 straight goal scorers were this year versus who their Top 4 highest-rated Clutch Kings were during the recently completed regular season.

Buffalo Bandits

Straight Goals: Josh Byrne (43), Dhane Smith (36), Kyle Buchanan & Tehoka Nanticoke (21)
Clutch Kings: Josh Byrne (25.5), Dhane Smith (24.25), Tehoka Nanticoke (13.50), Chase Fraser (11.50)

Calgary Roughnecks

Straight Goals: Jesse King (42), Tanner Cook (32), Tyler Pace (24)
Clutch Kings: Jesse King (14.75), Tanner Cook (13.00), Jeff Cornwall (9.50), Haiden Dickson (8.50)

Colorado Mammoth

Straight Goals: Eli McLaughlin (44), Zed Williams (37), Connor Robinson (35)
Clutch Kings: Connor Robinson (31.25), Zed Williams (17.00), Eli McLaughlin (13.00), Evan Downey (4.00)

Halifax Thunderbirds

Straight Goals: Chris Boushy (38), Randy Staats (34), Clarke Petterson (32)
Clutch Kings: Randy Staats (20.5), Clarke Petterson (18.50), Ryan Benesch (16.00), Chris Boushy (15.00)

Panther City Lacrosse Club

Straight Goals: Will Malcom (35), Jonathan Donville (23), Patrick Dodds & Phil Caputo (22)
Clutch Kings: Will Malcom (17.25), Phil Caputo (13.00), Josh Medeiros (10.00), Callum Crawford (8.50)

Rochester Knighthawks

Straight Goals: Connor Fields (52), Holden Cattoni (40), Ryan Smith (33)
Clutch Kings: Connor Fields (29.50), Ryan Smith (18.00), Holden Cattoni (14.00), Matt Gilray (9.00)

San Diego Seals

Straight Goals: Dane Dobbie (45), Curtis Dickson (44), Wes Berg (39)
Clutch Kings: Austin Staats (23.50), Dane Dobbie (12.75), Wes Berg (11.25), Curtis Dickson (9.50)

Toronto Rock

Straight Goals: Tom Schreiber (48), Corey Small (44), Dan Craig (35)
Clutch Kings: Stephen Keogh (13.75), Tom Schreiber (13.50), Challen Rogers (9.00), Brandon Slade (7.50)

A number of defensive and/or transition players who didn’t finish in their team’s Top 3 straight goal scorers (which almost never happens ever) do rank high in Clutch Kings points.

Defensive-first players like Calgary’s Jeff Cornwall (previously scored GWGs during the Rush’s 2015 & 2016 Cup-winning campaigns, including an extremely late Cup winner), Toronto’s Challen Rogers (scored first-round OT winner last year) & Brandon Slade (2 GWGs this year, plus was potent on the press at times in addition to playing strictly O shifts), Rochester’s Matt Gilray (led the league in GWGs earlier this year) and Panther City’s Josh Medeiros (he had massive spike in quantity & obviously quality goals this year) all rank within their team’s Top 4 Clutch Kings this year, and are clearly capable of scoring pivotal points during the upcoming playoffs.

NLL Clutch Kings: Final Edition

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

1. Connor Robinson (T22), Colorado, 31.25 (3/7/4)
2. Connor Fields (2), Rochester, 29.50 (9/6/2)
3. Joe Resetarits (13), Philadelphia, 25.75 (4/6/3)
4. Josh Byrne (12), Buffalo, 25.25 (6/5/3)
5. Robert Church (3), Saskatchewan, 25.00 (6/5/2)
6. Dhane Smith (21), Buffalo, 24.25 (5/5/3)
7. Austin Staats (T19), San Diego, 23.50 (1/7/5)
8. Blaze Riorden (T26), Philadelphia, 21.75 (5/5/1)
T9. Randy Staats (T26), Halifax, 20.50 (0/7/3)
T9. Ben McIntosh (T16), Philadelphia, 20.50 (3/2/4)
11. Clarke Petterson (T33), Halifax, 18.50 (4/3/3)
12. Ryan Smith (T29), Rochester, 18.00 (3/7/1)
T13. Will Malcom (T22), Panther City, 17.25 (6/3/2)
T13. Lyle Thompson (5), Georgia, 17.25 (3/5/2)
15. Zed Williams (T19), Colorado, 17.00 (7/3/2)
T16. Ryan Benesch (35), Halifax, 16.00 (8/6/0)
T16. Connor Kelly (T22), Albany, 16.00 (6/3/1)
T16. Jeff Teat (1), New York, 16.00 (2/4/3)
19. Chris Boushy (18), Halifax, 15.00 (6/5/0)
T20. Jesse King (12), Calgary, 14.75 (3/4/2)
T20. Jon Phillips* (T54), Las Vegas, 14.75 (2/3/2)
22. Keegan Bal (T26), Vancouver, 14.50 (5/6/0)
T23. Holden Cattoni (T14), Rochester, 14.00 (3/5/1)
T23. Eric Fannell (T38), Halifax, 14.00 (5/2/1)
T23. Rob Hellyer (T54), Las Vegas, 14.00 (5/1/2)
26. Stephen Keogh (T40), Toronto, 13.75 (2/2/3)
27. Tom Schreiber (4), Toronto, 13.50 (4/4/2)
28. Tehoka Nanticoke (T54), Buffalo, 13.50 (3/3/1)
T29. Tanner Cook (T33), Calgary, 13.00 (3/4/2)
T29. Eli McLaughlin (T7), Colorado, 13.00 (5/3/1)
T29. Phil Caputo (T49), Panther City, 13.00 (4/2/3)

*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