Powless to make his debut with Black Wolves on road tonight against Vancouver

In general, games in the National Lacrosse League are played at a high tempo. You stop to reflect on one goal and you miss the next one.

“The ball stays in a stick one or two seconds,” New England Black Wolves coach Glenn Clark was saying in his weekly conference call. “You sort of create this level of activity on and off the ball. We're breaking some of the habits of some of our guys, like, 'You know what? You can't have the ball die in one of our sticks.'

“I don't know if teams are doing anything differently. They're very active, very dynamic. We need to be better than that. We show glimpses of it at times, but we tend to revert to some tendencies that aren't very productive.”

On Tuesday this week, the Black Wolves decided to fight offense with … offense.

The team acquired lefty forward Johnny Powless from the defending NLL champion Georgia Swarm, adding the four-time league champion, who will play his first game for New England at 10 p.m. today when the Wolves (4-4) travel to play at the Vancouver Stealth (1-9).

Powless, 24, was drafted fifth overall by the Rochester Knighthawks in 2011 and won three championships with Rochester in his first three seasons, before adding a fourth last season with Georgia.

He had just 14 points in seven games this season on a crowded offensive unit in Georgia, but has 151 goals, 181 assists and 244 loose balls in his career and Clark is looking for him to help lift the Black Wolves, who have a league-worst 90 goals scored.

“I've always liked Johnny,” Clark said. “I like his game. He's sort of a component we need. He's good without the ball in his stick. He's an inside presence; he'll create some space for other guys. He's definitely a piece we need. He's a proven winner. He's someone we always had to worry about when we played against.”

The Black Wolves, coming off a 19-11 loss at home to the Colorado Mammoth on Sunday, are led in scoring by Kevin Crowley with 23 goals, having scored in 27 straight games, and Shawn Evans, who has 18 goals and leads the team in assists (30) and points (48). The Wolves announced that forward Kevin Buchanan was placed on the short-term hold out list and will not play against Vancouver.

The Wolves, who have lost three straight, beat Vancouver 13-9 on Dec. 29 at Mohegan Sun.

Logan Schuss leads Vancouver in goals (21).

“The one thing that players, fans, coaches need to be cautious of is looking at the record of Vancouver,” Clark said. “They're by no means an easy opponent. They've had some bad results, but so have we. If Anyone thinks we're going to roll in there and this is automatic-win night … I don't anticipate anything other than a very, very tough game.”