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Rock hand Rush second straight setback

For the first time in two seasons, the Saskatchewan Rush suffered a second straight loss as they fell 16-13 to the Toronto Rock on Friday night.
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For the first time in two seasons, the Saskatchewan Rush suffered a second straight loss as they fell 16-13 to the Toronto Rock on Friday night.

The Rush (3-3) had not lost two games in a row since the start of the 2017 campaign when they lost road games in Georgia and Toronto – the exact same scenario that has played out the past two weeks.

Saskatchewan dropped a 13-10 decision in Georgia last Sunday. Toronto (6-1) earned its fifth straight win and lead the NLL’s overall standings.

“Not a consistent performance in terms of execution in a lot of areas,” said Rush GM/head coach Derek Keenan. “We had some good spurts, but it’s funny when you get into a bit of a hole, things compound.”
After falling behind 2-0 in the game’s early moments, the Rush snapped back to life with three goals in 56 seconds. Ben McIntosh got the Rush going with a quick-stick finish on a sizzling pass from Mark Matthews. Just 28 seconds later, Matthews was the finisher as he sent a long-range laser past Rock goalie Nick Rose. McIntosh then counted his second of the night on another outside shot after a setup by Jeff Shattler.

A wild first quarter saw the Rock counter the Rush’s three-goal run with a pair before Nick Finlay made it 5-4 as the Rush defender went on a solo dash and fired home a shot from the slot. A second rocket from Matthews cut the Toronto lead to 6-5 with 37 seconds left in the opening frame.

Toronto went on the attack in the second quarter and pulled into halftime with an 11-7 lead as five different players hit the scoreboard, including the hat-trick marker for former Rush Adam Jones. The Rock grabbed their largest lead of the night when Challen Rogers beat Saskatchewan goalie Evan Kirk 1:20 into the third quarter to make it 12-7, but the Rush were able to march back into it with three straight goals.

Robert Church bulled his way through the Toronto defence and put a sidearm delivery past Rose, and only 57 seconds later, Shattler came late into a Saskatchewan offensive set, took a flip pass from Matthews and beat the Rock goalie to make it 12-9. Four minutes later, McIntosh collected his hat trick coming out of the corner cutting by the defence into the slot and firing a shot top shelf.

The Rush’s momentum shift was cut off by a pair of Rock tallies to end the third, including the fourth of the night for Jones.

A terrific shorthanded effort by Kyle Rubisch left the Rush trailing by only four and Ryan Keenan closed the gap further with a quick shot to make it 15-12. But the Rush’s comeback bid was cut short as defenceman Mike Messenger was assessed a five-minute major for elbowing with less than four minutes to play. Jeremy Thompson was able to pocket the Rush’s second shorthanded goal of the night, but Saskatchewan was simply run out of time by the late power play. The Rush were assessed all 13 of the game’s penalty minutes.

Marty Dinsdale and Curtis Knight also scored for the Rush, who are back home next Saturday at SaskTel Centre in Saskatchewan to renew the Battle of the Prairies against the Calgary Roughnecks.