Tonight the Toronto Rock (3-3) renew their rivalry with the Rochester Knighthawks (4-2). The Rock offense has been sizzling lately having put up 20 goals last week for the first time in 12 years in their 20-10 beat of the Philadelphia Wings. Rochester will be much stiffer test as Matt Vinc has been rock solid in net for the Knighthawks posting a 8.14 goals against average which is second best in the NLL. The Knighthawks defense has been key to their success this year as their offense has struggled to find the back of the net. The Knighthawks have failed to score more than 10 goals in three of their games this season and have yet to put up more than 13 goals this season.
The Rock cannot overlook the Rochester offense though as it can easily explode at any second. The Rock will want to generate plenty of shots on net and try to pressure Vinc. The Rock have made the most of their opportunities this year as shown by their game last week when they scored on 20 of their 49 shots on net. The Rock are 3-0 at home this year and have averaged 17.6 goals per game at home so far this year. The Rock will look to keep their hot offense firing and hope to bury the Knighthawks.
The Knighthawks need to find a way to shutdown the Rock’s offense if they hope to win this game. Expect the Knighthawks to be very physical and make the Rock pay for every shot on net. The Knighthawks will want to slow the pace of the game down and force the Rock to make mistakes.
In the end expect the Knighthawks to end the Rock’s undefeated streak at home as the Knighthawks are the better all around team and when Matt Vinc is on his game it is almost impossible to beat him.
