Mohegan — Time was winding down on the New England Black Wolves' game against the Georgia Swarm on Saturday night at Mohegan Sun Arena, the seconds ticking by ever so sweetly.

The public address system was blaring “Burning Down the House” by the Talking Heads.

Pretty much.

The Black Wolves, connecting for the most goals since arriving in New England two years ago and the most in franchise history overall since 2002, avenged last week's loss to Georgia with a 21-11 drubbing in which the Wolves outscored the Swarm 12-2 to close the game.

New England, which clinched a home game in the upcoming National Lacrosse League playoffs, had a 22nd goal called back, too, before a crowd of 4,097.

“The best part about it for me, and the final result was lightning in a bottle, was that we got back to what we want it to be,” New England coach Glenn Clark said.

“It's huge,” said the Wolves' Shawn Evans. “We still have two games left. Our goal is to get first place.”

Evans finished with five goals and six assists, including four straight in the fourth quarter, to eclipse his previous high of 47 goals in a season. The reigning NLL MVP, Evans, in his first season with the Black Wolves after being traded from Calgary, now has 49.

The Black Wolves are 10-6, which matches a franchise high for wins in a single season — including the team's years as the Philadelphia Wings, which included six championship seasons.

They can finish no worse than second in the NLL's East Division and could clinch the division title with wins in their final two games, April 30 at first-place Buffalo (12-5) and May 1 at home against Rochester.

Georgia defeated New England 16-9 last Friday night at Georgia, days after the Wolves learned they had clinched a playoff berth by virtue of a tiebreaking procedure.

The Swarm, in fact, were among the hottest teams in the league, winning three straight games by six goals or more and looking to continue that trend and a climb toward the East's final playoff berth in Saturday's game. And Georgia led throughout the first quarter, getting out to leads of 2-0, 3-1, 4-2 and 5-3.

A Georgia goal to start the second quarter was disallowed, however, one of two the Swarm had reversed on replay, and Kevin Buchanan found Kyle Buchanan charging down the left side to pull the Black Wolves within 5-4.

The game was tied at 5-5 and 6-6 before Evans put the Black Wolves up 7-6 with 2:19 to play in the half. Kevin Buchanan followed with a goal and Pat Saunders scored with 1.3 seconds left to make it 9-6 at the half.

Georgia scored three straight to start the second half before the lefty Saunders scored from the right side to put New England ahead for good. Kevin Buchanan then scored off a pass from Evans which resembled a line drive and Sheldon Burns scored in transition to make it 12-9.

This time, Georgia never caught its breath, with New England returning the favor from a week ago.

“A little grit, a little finesse,” said Saunders, in describing the Black Wolves offense. “… When you look at our record, you can't get to three (losses) in a row, even two in a row. You have to bounce back after a big loss.”

Saunders and Kevin Buchanan each had four goals for New England and Jordan Hall, Burns and Kyle Buchanan had two each. Goalie Evan Kirk made 45 saves.

Saunders, who also established a career high with his 41 goals, said the game could have gone either way when the Swarm came back to tie it at 9. Clark said Kirk wanted a few of those goals back, as he was having trouble with his stick.

“They could have got on a run because we’ve done it to other teams, just fight back and chip away,” Saunders said. “It’s a big thing to see Kirkie and the 'D' close the door and let the offense kind of get in rhythm.”

v.fulkerson@theday.com