The Calgary Roughnecks won the last NLL championship, back in 2019 in the pre-COVID-19 days. The Saskatchewan Rush have had the best regular-season record in the West Division the last seven straight seasons. But in 2022, these two juggernauts are at the bottom of the division standings, in danger of missing the playoffs entirely. So every game is critical for both squads.
Saturday night, the Roughnecks went home with the huge win, beating the Rush 8-6, and all-but ending any hope of Saskatchewan getting to the postseason.
Saskatchewan got off to a quick start, scoring twice in the first two minutes, one from Robert Church on the power play, the second from Mark Matthews. But Calgary got them right back on tallies from Dan Taylor and Tyler Pace. Matthews would then score his second of the night to wrap up the first quarter.
And after that, the Rush offence would go silent for two quarters while the Roughnecks built up a five-goal lead before Matthews finally broke the drought with a short-handed marker two minutes into the fourth quarter. A late rally by Saskatchewan made the game close, but was too little, too late.
Curtis Dickson lead the way for the Roughnecks, scoring twice and adding four assists, while Matthews scored four times and chipped in two assists.
Eric Penney played well in the Rush net, making 35 saves, but Roughnecks goalie Christian Del Bianco’s 48-save performance stole the show.
Once again, Saskatchewan outshot their opponent on the night, 54-43, but once again, they simply were not able to find the twine for extended periods of time. This has been the story of their season, with their scorers going silent for entire quarters. Meanwhile, Calgary did enough to keep themselves in the playoff picture.
The Rush have not yet been mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, but with a 4-10 record and just four games to play the odds of them reaching the postseason are not good. Calgary, on the other hand, is sitting at 5-7, with six games still to play, and could still easily finish in the top half of the division if they get hot for the rest of the season.
The Roughnecks host the Vancouver Warriors next Friday. The Rush get a week off to lick their wounds before returning to action at home, also against the Warriors, on April 9.
