Kim Squire ripped home his fourth goal of the game -- a twisting, wheeling, undeniable zap job -- as the Toronto Rock survived a series of harrowing scares to edge the Calgary Roughnecks, 14-13, on Saturday, running their winning streak to six and extending Calgary’s losing skid to seven.

This riveting piece of improvisational guerilla theatre thrilled a huge crowd of 17,138 at the Air Canada Centre, who learned first-hand, along with the visitors, just how hard this Rock team is to defeat. Put Calgary rookie goalie Matt King first on the witness list. He made 73 saves in the loss.

Things looked promising for the visitors when they hit the crossbar behind Rock goalie Bob Watson just seconds into the game. But Steve Toll of the Rock changed things dramatically when he snagged the rebound and sent Blaine Manning away home free to score on the counterbreak.

But the Roughnecks settled down, and didn’t they just bang in four goals in a row? The third was the best. Transition sparkplug Jesse Phillips (five goals, one assist and a team-leading 12 loose balls) scored on a long breakaway. What was really impressive was that Phillips (a left-side shot) crossed his stick over to the right side to protect the ball from an onrushing defender, and rifled the ball home on his backhand.

Toronto got two goals back late in the quarter, Kim Squire on an outside rip while trialing the play, and Manning, unassisted, on a low dive out of the corner.

4-3 Calgary after one.

Former Sarnia Pacer Matt Green boosted the lead to 5-3 just 47 seconds into the new stanza, converting a sassy short pass from ex-Rock Kaleb Toth. But then the Rock went on the rampage. Ken Millin scored unchallenged, Mike Murray tied the game with a 35-foot power play bullet, Colin Doyle put Toronto ahead with a 25-foot stop-and-pop, and Stroup ran the lead to 7-5 diagonal screened two-bouncer at 10:06.

It only took eight seconds for Jesse Phillips to respond for Calgary, completing his hat trick. The teams traded goals as the clock ran down. 8-7 Rock at the break.

The third quarter was very low-scoring, with just three tallies to break the up-and-down flow. Ben Prepchuk tied the game for Calgary when he took a lengthy, quiet, unchallenged diagonal stroll through the Rock penalty killing unit. Kim Squire put the Rock back in front with a patented Kimbo circus job, shooting under his own leg to cap a superb four-way passing play. In the dying moments, Toronto coach Les Bartley unloaded on an official, and was hit with a very uncharacteristic bench penalty. Chris Panos cashed in the power play.

9-9 tie after three.

Fasten your seatbelts. Here we go.

Five minutes in, the Rock are up by two, thanks to yet another long power play bomb from Murray and Stroup’s finish of an impudent Kimbo pass from behind the Calgary net.

Over the next eight minutes, the Rock are blanked and Calgary reels off four straight. Kyle Goundrey with an outside bang job at 7:23. Kaleb Toth off a long downfloor pass from Green at 8:15 to tie it. Chris Panos, wide open on a soft Toronto line change at 8:41. Phillips, his fifth of the night, under a crushing check from Pat Coyle at 13 minutes even.

13-11, Roughnecks, but here come the Rock! Steve Toll gets one back on a blazing high-speed break with Darryl Gibson at 13:55. But Toronto captain Jim Veltman bodyslams a Calgarian in a loose-ball scrum, and is sent off for holding at 14:03. Calgary should have been killing the clock, but Jason Wulder missed on an ill-advised outside shot, the Rock corralled it and called time out. Off the restart, Colin Doyle (one goal, five assists) clanged one off the crossbar. Kim Squire was right there to bunt in the rebound. Tie game! Overtime!

But hold on! Rock goalie Bob Watson is called for roughing at the 15:00 mark of the fourth. Veltman’s still got 1:03 left to serve. Calgary starts overtime with a two-man advantage. Further drama comes when Colin Doyle is sent to the box to serve the penalty. The refs insist he was on the floor at the time. Doyle vehemently denies this for almost the entire time he’s in the box.

Bartley sends out Steve Toll, Glenn Clark and Pat Coyle to kill the double disadvantage. They do a great job, but it seems to last forever. Veltman, and then finally Doyle, return. Then Calgary gets into penalty trouble. Dave Bremner gets sat down for roughing at 3:02. The Rock surge forward. Stroup is robbed twice, once by the post, and then by an astonishing exploding arms-and-legs everywhere save by King. King pulls off an identical piece of thievery moments later, but Calgary can’t squeeze the loosie. It proves fatal, as the ball gets pumped in to Squire in front, who catches, turns and shoots simultaneously, beating a desperately lunging King just under the crossbar.

Bedlam!

A great little lacrosse game that easily, so easily could have gone the other way.

The loss ends Calgary’s slim hopes of finishing second in the division and of reaching postseason play. The win gives the Rock a much-needed boost heading into what will be a truly punishing final month of the season.

I defy the NHL to ever pack this much action and excitement into a regular-season game.

BOX SUMMARY
                                   1  2  3  4 OT     TOT
Calgary Roughnecks (4-10)          4  3  2  4  0  --  13
Toronto Rock (8-2)                 3  5  1  4  1  --  14

CALGARY ROUGHNECKS            TORONTO ROCK
               G - A   PTS                   G - A   PTS
J Phillips     5 - 1     6    K Squire       4 - 2     6
Panos          2 - 2     4    Stroup         3 - 3     6
K Goundrey     1 - 2     3    Doyle          1 - 5     6
Toth           1 - 2     3    Toll           1 - 4     5
Wulder         0 - 3     3    Manning        2 - 2     4
R Campbell     0 - 1     1    M Murray       2 - 0     2
Green          1 - 1     2    Gibson         0 - 2     2
Katanchik      1 - 1     2    Veltman        0 - 2     2
Prepchuk       1 - 1     2    Millin         1 - 0     1
Desormeaux     0 - 2     2
King           0 - 2     2
Kilbride       1 - 0     1
Bremner        0 - 1     1

Shots on goal           51    Shots on goal           87
Saves made by           73    Saves made by           38
   King              73          Watson            38
Penalties               10    Penalties                7
Penalty Minutes         23    Penalty Minutes         17
Power Play Chances       6    Power Play Chances      10
Power Play Goals         3    Power Play Goals         5
   Panos              1          M Murray           2
   J Phillips         1          K Squire           2
   Prepchuk           1          Stroup             1
Shorthanded Goals        1    Shorthanded Goals        1
   J Phillips         1          K Squire           1
Loose Balls             74    Loose Balls            104
   J Phillips        12          Coyle             19
   K Goundrey        11          Veltman           19
   Toth               8          Toll              12
Faceoffs Won            11    Faceoffs Won            19
   Katanchik    (11-18)          Millin       (11- 4)
   Desormeaux   ( 0- 1)          Toll         ( 8- 7)

   *** STATS OFFICIAL BY VERIFY WITH TORONTO ROCK ***

Ben Knight is lacrosse columnist for Sportsnet.ca