The Toronto Rock took ownership of top spot in the Eastern Division after their 2-0 weekend. After a 13-12 come from behind home win over the Minnesota Swarm, the Rock travelled to Rochester where they picked up their third road win of the year in the form of an 11-7 victory over the Knighthawks.
Garret Billings led the Rock in the wins with an 8 point performance versus Minnesota, followed by a 6 point night against Rochester. Billings 10 assists on the weekend give him a total of 22 on the season, leading all NLL players. The Toronto forward currently sits at second in the overall NLL scoring race with 29 points.
Trailing closely behind Billings in scoring is captain Colin Doyle, who registered 9 points in the victories. Doyle’s 23 points put him in the league’s top five and make him and Billings the first two Rock players to reach the 20 point plateau. Doyle and Billings are also first and second in the NLL assists column, with Doyle registering 19 helpers on the year.
Thanks to a 6 goal weekend, forward Josh Sanderson leads the Rock in tallies with 11, which is good for fourth best league wide.
After allowing 11 goals versus the Swarm, Rock goalie Nick Rose was briefly pulled during the third quarter. Back-up Zack Boychuck stopped 1 of 2 shots faced before Rose was back between the pipe, where he helped the Rock defense hold the Swarm scoreless in the fourth quarter. Rose carried this momentum into the match-up against Rochester, where he stopped 40 of 47 shots faced. Rose continues his emergence as one of the league’s premier starting goalies, leading all NLL goaltenders in wins (4), goals against average (9.31) and saves (201).
Toronto will travel to Buffalo Saturday night to take on the Buffalo Bandits. The Bandits boast a 3-1 record heading into the match-up sit behind Toronto at second place in Eastern Division standings.
