Wolves look to put lost weekend behind them

Last weekend the New England Black Wolves went from first to worst in about a 24-hour span.

The Wolves dropped back-to-back games against Buffalo on March 23 at home (20-7) and then lost at Georgia on March 24 (17-12) to drop to the bottom of the National Lacrosse League Eastern Division standings.

Of course, New England (6-7) is still only a win behind Toronto (7-6), Rochester (7-7), Georgia (7-7) and Buffalo (7-7) in the East as it readies for Saturday's game at Buffalo (7:30 p.m., Key-Bank Centre).

With five games remaining in the regular season, is there time to turn things around?

“Yes, there is,” Black Wolves coach Glenn Clark said during a conference call this week. “The stressful thing about the East is how close it is, but the good thing is, if we win on the weekend, who knows? We could be right back in the playoffs. It's so tight and every weekend you have such big swings.”

Of course, Clark would like to avoid those swings, in favor of some consistency, if possible.

“It's on everybody,” Clark said. “We haven't seemed to be able to get all of our groups going.”

New England is led by Kevin Crowley with 36 goals, while Stephan Leblanc is second with 19 goals and has a team-high 32 assists.

Dhane Smith leads Buffalo in goals (32), assists (53) and points (85), also leading the NLL in points. The Bandits are 2-0 this season against the Black Wolves.