After finishing the 2014 season as the top two teams in the NLL West Division, both the Calgary Roughnecks and the Edmonton Rush have stumbled out of the blocks in 2015. They are currently tied for dead last in the division with 0-2 records.
Tonight they face each other in Calgary for the first time this season—one team will break the goose egg and one team will be facing a long climb back into playoff contention.
For the Rush, the biggest concern has to be their lack of offense to this point in the season. At only 18 goals for, the Rush are dead last in league offense so far this year. Just one year removed from scoring the second-most goals (behind Calgary), this is worrisome.
While the loss of Curtis Knight was expected to put a dent in their offensive scheme, the return of Corey Small and the debut of Ben McIntosh were expected to fill that hole. After a bit of a slow start (four points in two games), Small has been traded to the Vancouver Stealth. Rookie McIntosh has a respectable five goals and an assist so far, but might be called upon to step it up even more.
Meanwhile, Mark Matthews has continued to be a top performer, leading the team with 10 points, but others such as Jarrett Davis (1 point in two games) have been pretty silent.
The other part of the Rush offense that has been surprisingly quiet has been their transition game. Chris Corbeil had a 17-goal, 27-point campaign in 2014 but has just two points in two games at this early stage of the 2015 season. Corbeil, along with guys like Jeremy Thompson and Nik Bilic, have to start putting pressure on opposing defenses if they hope to get back into the thick of things.
Scoring hasn’t been an issue for the Roughnecks; they’ve averaged 15 goals for to start the season. Their problems have been on the other end of the floor where they’ve given up a whopping 35 goals in their two games. The defense needs to contest every shot. Just as importantly, they need to be better at killing penalties; the Riggers have given up surrendered seven power play goals against in 10 penalty kill opportunities.
Just as importantly, the goaltending tandem of Mike Poulin and Frankie Scigliano need to be better. The two have combined for an embarrassing .624 save percentage so far. Although both have made some huge saves in key moments to this point, they both need to find their rhythm and keep the ball in front of them.
The Battle of Alberta starts at 7:00 pm MT at the Scotiabank Saddledome and is also viewable on TSN2 in Canada and ESPN3 in the United States.
