Paul Gait shook off the rust from a three-year retirement Friday night, scoring two goals in the Colorado Mammoth's 15-9 victory over the Minnesota Swarm at Xcel Energy Center.

Gait, third in National Lacrosse League history with 406 goals, hadn't played a league game since his Washington Power (the predecessor to the Mammoth) lost a 2002 semifinal match in double overtime at Toronto.

His return, not a wild shocker when it was announced a week ago, came just in time for the stretch run and the playoffs, after which he and brother Gary (the NLL's alltime leading scorer) will ride off into the sunset together.

Early on, Gait had a bit of trouble getting in rhythm with his new (and, in many cases, old) teammates, but did manage to connect for Colorado's only goal in a 4-1 opening run by the Swarm.

Minnesota's lead didn't last long, though, has Brad Self and Del Halladay scored late to cut the gap to 4-3.

Halladay then struck again early in the second quarter, with Nick Carlson and Gary following suit within twenty seconds.

Neither side scored again for seven minutes, until D'Arcy Berthiaume pulled Minnesota back within a goal at 6-5. Halladay, completing a hat trick, struck less than a half-minute later.

After Ryder Bateman again made it a one-goal game, Gavin Prout capped off the first half with just over a minute to play, and Colorado was again ahead by a pair, 8-6.

Colorado stretched its lead to four goals in the third quarter, on goals by John Gallant and Josh Sims, and after Minnesota's Ryan Ward got one back, the Mammoth extended the lead to 12-7, courtesy of Paul Gait and Sims.

A couple goals late in the third quarter helped pull the Swarm to within 13-9, but the first-year team failed to score after that, allowing Colorado to score twice more in the fourth period.

Sims led the Mammoth with three goals and four assists, Halladay had three goals and an assist, and the brothers Gait had mirror stat lines (Paul two goals and one assist, Gary one goal and two assists).

Ward (one goal, six assists) and Kelly Hall (three goals, four assists) recorded seven points each for the Swarm.