Photo Credit: Brad Watson/Calgary Roughnecks
The Calgary Roughnecks (5-3) take on the Toronto Rock (4-5) Saturday night at Calgary’s Scotiabank Saddledome.
The Rock are continuing to struggle this season after dropping a close 11-10 decision to the Edmonton Rush last night in Edmonton. They have not been able to string two wins in a row together yet this year and are now in danger of losing their grip on the last playoff spot in the East Division. Furthermore, they are now 0-4 on the road.
The good news for them is that Garrett Billings is continuing to produce, adding seven points against Edmonton to bring his league-leading total to 65. Nick Rose also had an outstanding game in net for Toronto against the Rush, making 42 saves. In addition, they beat the Roughnecks in Week 2 by a 16-11 score, extending their winning streak against Calgary to three games going back to the 2013 season.
The Roughnecks, on the other hand, are on a three-game winning streak right now and are solidly in second place in the West Division. Last weekend they beat the defending champion Rochester Knighthawks, bringing their home record to 4-1 in 2014
Early season penalty issues seem to be behind the Roughnecks, allowing their deep, potent offense to stay on the floor and do some damage; Calgary has scored 46 goals during their current streak.
Defending league MVP Shawn Evans continues to pace the offense with 51 points (third best in the NLL) while Dane Dobbie leads the league in goals scored with 26. In net, Mike Poulin’s two best games of the year have been his two last games, stopping 67 shots for a .788 save percentage in those games.
It looks as though these are teams heading in opposite directions right now. Add in the fact that teams playing two games in a weekend are having real troubles in their second game and it looks like the advantage is strongly in the Roughnecks’ favor. However, Toronto has had Calgary’s number for a while now and that kind of mojo can never be discounted.
The game gets underway at 7:00 pm MT.
