Photo Credit: Dan Brodie
Jeff Shattler made a highlight-reel play 46 seconds into overtime to give the Calgary Roughnecks a dramatic 12-11 overtime victory over the Edmonton Rush in Game 1 of the West Division Finals on Saturday night. The win puts the Roughnecks in the driver’s seat in the best-of-two series, which heads to Edmonton for Game 2 next weekend.
Calgary drew first blood three minutes into the game when Scott Ranger beat Aaron Bold, but the Rush would respond with two goals of their own in less than a minute, starting a five-goal run that would extend into the second quarter. Mark Matthews and Robert Church would both contribute two goals to the run.
The Roughnecks would chip away at the four-goal deficit for the remainder of the first half, outscoring Edmonton 4-3 in the second quarter and cutting the lead to 7-5 as the teams headed to the locker room for halftime.
The third quarter was all Roughnecks as they beat Bold four more times while the Rush were only able to solve Calgary goalie Mike Poulin once in the frame. Calgary took a one-goal lead into a wild fourth quarter which saw the Rush snipe two goals to retake the lead, followed by the two teams trading goals late in regulation to find Edmonton clinging to a one-goal edge going into the last minute of play.
With Calgary’s net empty, Edmonton committed a major error, getting called for an illegal substitution—the penalty in the final minute of the game resulted in a penalty shot and Curtis Dickson made no mistake, squeezing a shot past Bold to tie the game and send it to overtime.
Edmonton looked to have taken the game when Matthews beat Poulin in sudden death but, upon review, the goal was waved off due to a crease violation. Calgary then made the most of their opportunity when a high bounce off the back boards found a leaping Shattler at the side of the net for the quick-stick game winner.
Matthews led all scorers on the night with seven points (3 G, 4 A) while Zack Greer (2 G, 2 A) and Cory Conway (4 A) each added four points in the losing cause.
Dickson (4 G, 2 A) and Shawn Evans (1 G, 5 A) both had six-point nights for the Roughnecks.
Poulin had an outstanding game, stopping 45 shots to earn the game’s First Star award while Bold turned aside 28 shots for the Rush.
Both teams now get a week to prepare for Game 2 of the series, to be held in Edmonton on Friday, May 16. If the Rush win the game to tie the series, a 10-minute mini-game will then be played immediately following the conclusion of Game 2 to determine the western representative in the Champion’s Cup.
