The National Lacrosse League published two official Week 21 items headlined ‘Week 21 | Black Bears vs Thunderbirds’ and ‘Week 21 | Bandits vs Firewolves’.

Each item, as of this review, contains only its headline and no game results, venue, kickoff time, roster information, storyline details, or other body text.

As presented, it is not possible to determine whether either piece is a pregame preview, a live update, or a postgame recap. Both focus on individual matchups rather than broader season coverage.

The NLL announced its quarterfinal schedule for the 2026 playoffs, set as four single-elimination games on April 24-25. All times are Eastern. No. 8 Halifax visits No. 1 Vancouver at Rogers Arena in Vancouver at 10:00 p.m., No. 6 Toronto visits No. 3 Saskatchewan at SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon at 9:00 p.m., and No. 7 San Diego visits No. 2 Colorado at Ball Arena in Denver at 9:00 p.m.

The fourth quarterfinal pairs No. 5 Buffalo and No. 4 Georgia on Saturday, April 25, with the host site dependent on Georgia’s earlier result against Rochester that day. If Georgia beats Rochester, Buffalo will travel to Gas South Arena in Duluth, GA, for a 7:30 p.m. start. If Georgia loses to Rochester, Georgia will travel to KeyBank Center in Buffalo, NY, for a 7:00 p.m. start.

Quarterfinal winners advance to best-of-three semifinals beginning the weekend of April 30-May 3, with May 7-10 reserved if a deciding game is necessary. The best-of-three final is scheduled for May 14-17, with May 21-25 held as backup dates. Vancouver clinched the top overall seed and will have home-floor advantage throughout the postseason.

All playoff games will stream on ESPN+, TSN+ and NLL+, subject to territory restrictions. The league said it drew more than one million fans for the fourth consecutive year in 2025-26.

An anonymous poll of five players from each of the NLL’s 14 teams found unanimous agreement that fighting still serves a purpose in the league. Ninety-three percent of respondents said viral fight videos help promote the NLL, 0 percent said they hurt and 7 percent said they neither help nor hurt. Many players said fights boost awareness and excitement for the sport.

Responses were split on whether fighting deters American collegiate players from pursuing the NLL: 4 percent said “yes, a lot,” 22 percent said “yes, some,” 37 percent said “no,” and 37 percent said “who cares.” Seventy-eight percent of respondents said they had not thought less of a teammate for not fighting, 22 percent said they had, and none of the poll respondents expected fighting to be banned soon. Twenty-six percent said fighting might eventually be banned and 74 percent said it never would be.

Lax Mag published the survey results alongside its All-Time and Current Fight Club rankings and maintains the Fight Club coverage series and the NLL Fight Club Player Poll. Lax Mag’s current and all-time top-10 fighter lists rely on contemporary statistics and historical comparison and are framed within broader debates about game identity, fan engagement, and officiating. The magazine noted a modern decline in fighting driven in part by teams emphasizing face-off specialists over enforcers and by protracted officiating reviews, and it recalled that during the OG LaxMag era Fight Club pieces and players such as Tim O’Brien and Geoff Snider drove outsized traffic.

League attendance figures show strains: six of the nine lowest average home attendances have come since 2020, and the current NLL regular season is averaging under 8,000 tickets per game, a figure buoyed significantly by Buffalo’s Banditland. Taken together, the poll and the rankings highlight a tension between persistent player endorsement of fighting as culturally and commercially valuable and league-level trends that have reduced on-field fighting.

The National Lacrosse League posted Week 20 headlines for Toronto vs. Ottawa and Rochester vs. Buffalo this week but did not include game reports or box scores. Each listing on the league site appeared as a match identifier only, with no date, venue, final score or individual statistics.

The league indicated typical coverage would include game date and time, venue, roster notes or key player updates and standings implications; those elements were not present.

Readers must consult the articles’ full text or the official box scores, when published, to learn results and any impact on standings or playoff positioning.

The NLL’s final-week playoff race comes down to interdependent clinching scenarios that will decide the last two playoff berths and which teams host quarterfinal games. Four clubs, Halifax, Ottawa, Las Vegas and San Diego, are battling for those final spots. Ottawa visits Halifax on Saturday at 6:00 PM ET in a winner-takes-all matchup. Las Vegas and San Diego meet twice in Week 21, on Friday at 10:30 PM ET and Saturday at 10:00 PM ET; a sweep by either team would immediately clinch a playoff berth for the sweeper. If Las Vegas and San Diego split the two-game series, Las Vegas would rely on Rochester’s result versus Georgia to advance, and San Diego could advance with at least one Georgia loss. Other combinations of results between Las Vegas and San Diego would make the Saturday rematch decisive for playoff qualification.

Six teams have already clinched playoff berths, and Colorado and Vancouver have locked in quarterfinal home sites. Colorado, Vancouver and Buffalo remain in contention for the top overall seed. Colorado holds the simplest path. A win or certain combinations of rival losses would give it the top seed. Vancouver can clinch the top overall seed with a win plus a Colorado loss. Buffalo needs a win plus several other specific results to claim the top seed. Buffalo, Toronto, Saskatchewan and Georgia each have defined paths to host first-round home games depending on wins and losses elsewhere.

Recent Week 20 results provided context: Buffalo beat Rochester 12-6 to extend a seven-game winning streak; Vancouver edged Halifax 8-7; Colorado defeated Saskatchewan 13-11; San Diego topped Georgia 9-7; and Toronto beat Ottawa 10-6. Earlier this week Philadelphia upset Las Vegas at Xfinity Mobile Arena, selling out the lower bowl and winning 11-5. Lukas Nielsen had seven points; Kyle Jackson had two goals and four assists; Sam LeClair had two goals and three assists. Philadelphia’s Nick Damude and the team combined for a franchise-record 60 saves. An on-ice fight occurred between Eric Fannell and Rhys Blake. The Week 21 StubHub Power Rankings list Buffalo atop the board at 11-6, Vancouver and Colorado at 12-5, Toronto at 11-6, Saskatchewan slipping to fifth after its third straight loss, and lower-ranked San Diego and Halifax still alive in the postseason race.

With five of eight NLL playoff slots still open, the late-season Week 19 meeting carried major Western Conference implications. Colorado, which had clinched a playoff spot in Week 17 and entered the weekend off in Week 18, hosted Las Vegas at Ball Arena on Friday and strengthened its bid for home‑field advantage with a 13-8 victory.

Colorado’s win featured a five-goal game from Will Malcom and strong support from Andrew Kew (two goals, four assists), Dylan McIntosh (three goals, one assist) and goaltender Dillon Ward, who made 43 saves and recorded two assists. The game was tied 5-5 at halftime before Colorado outscored Las Vegas 4-1 in the third quarter, a span that included two Mammoth power-play goals. For Las Vegas, Adam Poitras and Jonathan Donville each had two goals and two assists, Kevin Crowley scored twice, and former Mammoth Alex Buque made 40 saves.

Las Vegas entered the weekend 7-7 after climbing back to .500 with a 10-9 overtime win over Calgary the prior weekend, a game in which Mitch Jones had one goal and four assists, Chris Cloutier had three goals and three assists, Kevin Crowley added two points, and new defensive addition Tyson Bell collected 12 loose balls, three blocks and two caused turnovers. The Desert Dogs currently occupy the eighth seed and could fall out of the top eight if they lose and Rochester or San Diego win, though they can still clinch a postseason berth with favorable results in Weeks 20–21. Halifax (6-9) must win and hope for losses by Las Vegas and San Diego to keep its postseason hopes alive; Halifax was set to host Rochester on Saturday after Rochester beat Oshawa 18-11 in Week 18, a game in which Ryan Lanchbury and Connor Fields each recorded 11 points.

Both teams were scheduled next to play April 11: Las Vegas at Philadelphia at 7 p.m. ET and Colorado at Saskatchewan at 9 p.m. ET.