Rush Close Season vs. Stealth
April 24, 2014 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Edmonton Rush News Release
Edmonton, AB---Derek Keenan isn't going to let the Edmonton Rush coast into the playoffs.
The Rush may have the No. 1 seed and home-turf advantage locked up for the drive to the NLL Champion's Cup, but that doesn't mean they are going to be a getting night off when they wrap up the regular season on Friday night against the visiting Vancouver Stealth.
In fact, it's quite the opposite.
"We want to ramp things up and get to a playoff tempo to be the best we can be," said the Rush GM/head coach. "We need to fix a few things as well." The Rush let leads slip away, didn't bear down on opportunities, and let sniper Curtis Dickson burn them for seven goals last Saturday as they lost their first game of the year at Rexall Place in falling 14-13 in overtime to the Calgary Roughnecks. The loss prevented the Rush from sweeping the season series against their arch-rivals, and maybe gave the Roughnecks a bit of a lift as the two teams seemed destined to meet in the two-game West Division Final. Calgary has to get past Colorado first in the one-game West Semifinal while the Rush have earned a first-round bye.
The primary piece of education the Rush can take from that loss to Calgary was one that they can hold onto heading into the playoffs.
"When you have the opportunity to put a good opponent away you have to put them away," said Keenan. "You have to keep your foot on the gas when you have a lead." The Rush have buried a few teams along the way this season, but the Stealth have not been one of them. Edmonton has won both games - both being one-goal decisions including the most-recent meeting which came on the Rush's home floor. The Rush needed three goals in the fourth quarter to muscle past Vancouver 10-9. Prior to that, the Rush overcame a 7-2 halftime deficit to beat Vancouver 9-8 in a win that was largely aided by a terrific off-the-bench performance from backup netminder Brodie MacDonald.
The Rush have won eight of their last nine regular-season meetings with the Stealth (Vancouver/Washington).
"We're looking forward to working harder and getting better," said the Rush's Mark Matthews, who set a new single-season scoring record for the team last week against Calgary. Matthews now stands at 76 points on year, which eclipsed Ryan Ward's previous franchise high of 75 set last season.
And with one game remaining on the schedule, Rush captain Chris Corbeil needs two goals against Vancouver to break Brodie Merrill's team record of 17 goals by transition/defenceman in a single season set in 2010.
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