Heading into the playoffs, there's nothing a National Lacrosse League would rather be than perfect.

At least as far as the Lacrosse-Network.com Experts Poll goes, the Rochester Knighthawks are as close to perfection as possible without actually reaching it.

This week, Rochester makes its third straight appearance atop the rankings, but now the top-playoff-seed Knighthawks have an Experts Poll-record 143 points, falling one vote shy of being the unanimous number one choice.

The other first-place vote went to Toronto, which moved up to second place despite losing at home, 13-10, to Colorado. The Rock picked up 128 points this week.

Buffalo fell to number three after blowing a shot at the Central Division title and home floor throughout the playoffs. The Bandits dropped to 121 points, their lowest score in three months, by losing Friday night at Calgary.

The Bandits' fall was nothing like Philadelphia's, though. The Wings plunged from fourth to seventh (72 points) after losing at Rochester, costing themselves a playoff berth.

Colorado and Calgary took full advantage of the slide, moving to fourth (100 points) and fifth (96), respectively, well ahead of number-six Vancouver (89).

Well off the pace were Albany (63 points) and Columbus (52 points), which spent the final weekend of the season on the fringes of the playoff race and couldn't get to the dance despite posting wins.

The usual suspects brought up the rear, although in a new order. Ottawa moved up to tenth, with 31 points, finishing ahead of New York (23 points). New Jersey, which was tenth last week, finished last, with eighteen points.

This is the final regular season Experts Poll. One more poll will be published, the Tuesday after the NLL Champion's Cup final.

Our panel of twelve experts (one from each NLL city) includes a wide range of top lacrosse minds, including Outsider's Guide writers, players, and coaches. Scoring is on a 12-11-10-etc. basis, so that the maximum score a team can earn is 144 points and the minimum is twelve points.

The complete rankings from this week's Experts Poll, with comments (win-loss record through Sunday is in parentheses):

WEEK FIFTEEN                                       Pts  Prv
 1. Rochester Knighthawks (12-4)                   143    1
    Good news: Storm ain't coming to town 
 2. Toronto Rock (11-5)                            128    3
    Playoff monsters must shake off the rust
 3. Buffalo Bandits (12-4)                         121    2
    Gotta be smartin' after blowing shot at #1
 4. Colorado Mammoth (9-7)                         100    5
    Turning it on at just the right time
 5. Calgary Roughnecks (9-7)                        96    7
    Took care of business against Bandits
 6. Vancouver Ravens (9-7)                          89    6
    Another great stretch run to reach playoffs
 7. Philadelphia Wings (8-8)                        72    4
    Live by the help ('02), die by the help ('03)
 8. Albany Attack (8-8)                             63    8
    After last year's run, severely unachieved
 9. Columbus Landsharks (8-8)                       52    9
    Midseason slump killed the 'Sharks
10. Ottawa Rebel (4-12)                             31   11
    Cue the Frogman - "Ain't got no home..."
11. New York Saints (3-13)                          23   12
    "Fore!"
12. New Jersey Storm (3-13)                         18   10
    Ginny: Plenty of PR, but cost Storm a win