The Saskatchewan Rush came into Philadelphia with a solid game plan on Thursday night and flew out with a win. Although the 16-12 final score made the game seem close, Saskatchewan dominated the entire game, despite being at the end of a gruelling three-game road trip.
The Wings’ offense came out flat again. By the end of the first half, Saskatchewan had found the back of the net eight times to Philly’s paltry three.
Philadelphia has been used to second-half surges lately; however, the surge was neither soon enough nor high-scoring enough. The second half of play saw Philadelphia scoring nine to Saskatchewan’s eight, but it took until the fourth quarter to really find their stride.
Like their last home game loss, this one seemed to frustrate almost everyone in the stadium. The fans were increasing their booing, watching their playoff chances slip away. The players had their heads hanging, and head coach and GM Paul Day seemed almost at a loss for words after the game. He has echoed a lot of the same sentiments over the last few weeks, but there seems to be little positive change.
One positive in the lopsided loss was the play of Sam LeClair, who had a hat trick on the night. He also wasn’t afraid to mix it up against the boards. LeClair definitely seems to embody the Philadelphia scrappy underdog mentality.
“That’s something I pride myself on, is getting through the middle,” LeClair described his game. “You know, being a smaller guy, I don’t see any difference in my size out there. I’m fearless going through the middle. And we have really good shooters on our team. We have Benny, Rezzy, the best American of all time. Holden, Jonesy, Blaze, you can name them all. So if I’m cutting through the middle, that means I’m open and someone’s got to check me, and they’re going to be open behind me.”
Day commented on LeClair’s play as well: “Sam’s having a pretty good year this year. I love how he attacks and uses his speed and he did that right from the first. That secondary scoring is huge.”
He also focused on the fact that you need to focus on the positives and the little things when the games aren’t going your way, for example, the Wings going 5-5 on the power play. He handled all the boos and chants with his head held high. The Wings are getting stronger with Nick Rowlett as he wins more faceoffs, going 19-32. Mitch Jones and Blaze Riorden each contributed five assists.
For Saskatchewan, Robert Church led with three goals and five assists, Zach Manns had three goals and two assists, and Clark Walter three goals and a single assist. Frankie Scigliano went the distance in goal, making 35 saves.
