The Vancouver Stealth (4-13) fell 10-5 to the Edmonton Rush (16-2) on Friday night, in what was their final road game of the season. With the win the Rush sweep the season series with the Stealth, 3-0.
The Rush would get on the board quickly in the first quarter with a goal from Curtis Knight just 32 seconds in. After giving up the early goal Stealth goaltender, Tyler Richards, seemed to settle into a groove making 11 first quarter saves.
The game remained close through the first half of the second quarter until the Rush took over scoring four unanswered goals to finish the half. The Rush led 8-4 at the half and were outshooting the Stealth 29-21.
The second half became a defensive battle with both teams failing to score in the third quarter, as both goaltenders stood tall. Richards, made another 14 saves for the Stealth in the third quarter, but again the offense struggled to give him any goal support.
In the fourth quarter little changed when the two teams took to the turf, as the Stealth were only able to get one goal in the second half and were outscored 8-2 after being tied 2-2 in the opening quarter. The Rush’s Aaron Bold stopped 40 of 45 shots in another impressive outing for the veteran goaltender. Bold finishes the season with a goals against average of 8.73 which is now a new NLL record.
There were a couple bright spots on the night for the Stealth, as Bradley Kri looked solid defensively in just his second game with the team, after being traded from Toronto. Kri had six loose balls and one forced turnover on the night. Tyler Richards also seemed to regain some confidence in the Stealth net tonight, as he looked solid, stopping 35 of 45 shots in a losing effort.
The Stealth will now return home for their final game of the season tomorrow night when they face the Calgary Roughnecks on Fan Appreciation Night, at 7PM PST, at the LEC.
