Week 6 was a great weekend for the home teams in the National Lacrosse League. On Friday, the defending champs treated their new home town fans to their first blowout of the season as the Saskatchewan Rush soundly defeated the Calgary Roughnecks by a score of 19-12.

Sure, it’s not a great game for Calgary fans or even the neutral observers, but the 9,500 fans at the Sasktel Centre loved it and will likely spread word.

Are you really surprised to see Mark Matthews and the Saskatchewan Rush at the top of the NLL Power Rankings? Didn't think so. (Photo: Josh Schaefer)

In Buffalo, the Bandits exacted revenge on the New England Blackwolves for last week’s defeat but it was not without drama as the Black Wolves turned an 11-5 third quarter Buffalo lead into a 12-10 cliff-hanger.

In one of the most exciting finishes of the year, the Calgary Roughnecks came back from a 9-3 third quarter hole to defeat the upstart Georgia Swarm 12-11. Calgary would not have hung on for that win if not for some heroic saves by goaltender Mike Poulin, who came in for relief of Frank Scigliano.

And last but not least, the Vancouver Stealth played their most complete game from start to finish – and they did it at home – as they smoked the Colorado Mammoth 15-7. Just two weeks ago, the same Colorado Mammoth embarrassed the Stealth by a score of 14-5.

There is a new No. 1 in the Power Rankings. Let’s check it out.

1 (3 last week). Saskatchewan (3-1). Zach Greer’s 5 goals in under 3 minutes turned an 8-5 Saskatchewan lead into a 13-5 score and broke a relatively close game wide open. The final score was 19-12 for Saskatchewan. It's no surprise that the Rush are back on top of the Power Rankings and it's probably more surprising that it took this long before we saw them dominate an opponent. Saskatchewan will play the Colorado Mammoth in Denver on Thursday in a game that will likely determine whether or not we have a first place challenge in the west.

2. (1) Colorado (4-2). The Mammoth lost the their second straight game and for the first time this season they were outclassed by their opponent as the Vancouver Stealth dominated from start to finish to defeat Colorado, 15-7. The Mammoth will have to shake this one off quickly because they host Saskatchewan on Thursday and then travel to Calgary on Saturday.

3. (2) New England (3-2). The New England Black Wolves lost a close 12-10 game to the Buffalo Bandits on Saturday. Although the Wolves did a great job battling back from an 8-2 deficit, a chink has been exposed in their armour. New England was 0-for-5 on the power play and allowed 2 shorthanded goals (Buffalo was 4-for-6 on the PP). Last week, New England was 0-for-3 on the PP. So far this season the Wolves are a league worst 28% on the PP and their PK is near the bottom of the pack too. The coaching staff will have to rectify this soon because no team has ever had success in the NLL with those numbers. Next week, New England will host the struggling Toronto Rock, who surprisingly have the best power play in the NLL.

4 (6) Buffalo (3-2). If it weren't for their stumble in New England last weekend, I would have the Bandits in the No. 2 spot now. Keeping on the theme of specialty teams, the Buffalo Bandits are the best in the NLL and they are being led by budding superstar Dhane Smith, who had 6 points in their 12-10 win and leads all NLL scorers with 37 points in 5 games. The Bandits next game will be in Georgia on Sunday.

5. (5) Calgary (3-3). Calgary was no match for Saskatchewan on Friday (losing 19-12) but salvaged what could have been a terrible weekend by completing a wild comeback against the Georgia Swarm on Saturday. The Roughnecks were down 9-3 and with Mike Poulin allowing only 4 goals on 28 shots in relief of Frank Scigliano, the Roughnecks sent their fans home happy with a 12-11 victory. Next Saturday the Roughnecks host their Rocky Mountain rival, the Colorado Mammoth, for the first time this season.

6. (4). Georgia (3-3). The Georgia Swarm came so close to extending their winning streak to 3 games in Calgary but ran into hot goalie in Mike Poulin. The young Swarm still looked impressive in a hostile building and will probably learn from their loss. Georgia hosts the Buffalo Bandits on Sunday.

7. (7). Rochester (2-2). The Knighthawks had the weekend off but will play their next game on Saturday at home against the Vancouver Stealth.

8. (8) Vancouver (2-3). The Vancouver Stealth played their best game of the 2016 season, soundly defeating the Colorado Mammoth 15-7. Every aspect of Vancouver’s game looked good – offence, defense and goaltending. Logan Schuss picked up 9 points for the second week in a row and goaltender Eric Penney stopped 40 of 47 shots. Most important, it was the first time this season that the Stealth have not been terrible at home. The Vancouver fans were desperate to see a decent effort at home and the Stealth went above and beyond. Next week, the Stealth will travel to \Rochester to play the Knighthawks.

9. (9) Toronto Rock (0-5). The Rock had the weekend off and their fans are hoping to see a different team when they return to action in New England on Sunday as we anticipate the return of Josh Sanderson, as well as a few defenders back off the IR.