By Scott Zerr | NLL.com Staff Writer
Photo By GetMyPhoto.ca
The Saskatchewan Rush surrendered six power-play goals but got a timely shorthanded goal from captain Chris Corbeil and ultimately captured a 13-10 win over the Calgary Roughnecks on Friday night.
The Rush (8-3) won their seventh straight regular-season meeting against the Roughnecks (4-9), and the two-time defending Champion’s Cup title-holders moved one step closer to clinching a playoff spot. Saskatchewan can lock up that spot with a win over Colorado on Saturday night.
Corbeil’s goal – his second of the game – came on a well-timed defensive effort by Kyle Rubisch, who intercepted a pass in the Saskatchewan zone and tossed a pass ahead to Corbeil. The Rush skipper raced in and bounced a shot behind Calgary goalie Christian Del Bianco to give Saskatchewan a 12-9 lead. Dan Taylor iced the victory with his second of the night as he picked the corner on a shot with 59 seconds left in regulation before a sold-out crowd of 15,039 at SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon.
“The goals are nice but this win is better. It was real character win for us,” said Taylor, a native of Calgary. “Calgary is a good team that plays hard against us all the time. We ran into penalty trouble but there was no quit, no panic. We stuck to our game plan and got the result we wanted.”
Taylor’s first of the night got the Rush off to a quick start in the first quarter with his high shot zipping past Roughnecks starter Frank Scigliano. Goals by Marty Dinsdale and Corbeil’s first of the night lifted the Rush to a 3-0 lead before Calgary answered with back-to-back power-play tallies from Dane Dobbie. The Rush fired right back, though, on the ensuing faceoff following Dobbie’s second as Jeff Cornwall scooped the ball, went in all alone, and put his shot behind Scigliano.
That marker started a five-goal run for the Rush and an 8-2 lead. Two of the Rush’s goals came on the power play, including Robert Church’s shot that went off the crossbar and down across the goal line. The goal wasn’t initially awarded, but upon a coach’s challenge review, the result was a good goal which chased Scigliano from the Calgary net. Jeremy Thompson’s quick shot through the goaltender’s legs put the Rush further ahead before Wes Berg struck on a Roughnecks’ power play with a bounce shot that got past Saskatchewan goalie Aaron Bold.
Calgary roared to life in the third quarter thanks to a highly effective power play. Berg’s goal on the man-advantage made it 9-5, and then during a five-minute major assessed to Rush defenceman Brett Mydske, Dobbie pumped home two more on the power play just 33 seconds apart to bring the score to 10-8. Saskatchewan’s power play restored a three-goal lead when Church’s second squeezed through Del Bianco for his league-leading 16th power-play tally.
Mark Matthews, with a pair of goals plus five assists, Mike Messenger, and Curtis Knight also scored for Saskatchewan. Adding to Calgary’s attack were Riley Loewen and Tyler Digby with two goals apiece.
Bold notched his league-leading eighth victory in Rush net, finishing with 43 saves. Scigliano and Del Bianco combined for 44 stops for the Roughnecks.
“We came out strong and got into penalty trouble and had some disciplined problems but overall I’m happy with the effort,” said Rush GM/head coach Derek Keenan.
