The Vancouver Stealth travel to Rexall Centre to meet the Edmonton Rush in the first meeting of the year between the two clubs. It’s a litmus test with the West Division lead on the line.
After having last week off, both teams have had ample time to prepare for this battle and formulate their gameplans. Despite not having played each other this year, you can imagine the energy in the building will have Vancouver pumped up to go out, compete and grab that pivotal top spot.
At the same time, the Rush will look to avenge last week’s overtime loss in another fiery edition of the Battle of Alberta.
EDMONTON
The Rush have been a little uneven in terms of stringing together wins. Their last two games have resulted in OT losses: to aforementioned Calgary, 13-12 and the week before to Toronto, 16-15.
Edmonton doesn’t have a lot of trouble scoring because it often comes from many different places, but something on their wishlist has to be some continued consistent goaltending.
Aaron Bold has been heavily relied upon to backstop Edmonton as they haven’t trusted Tyler Carlson with big minutes yet. Bold is fifth in minutes played (485:10), has the best goals against average in the league (9.85 GAA) and is fourth in save percentage (.776).
Maybe the only downside to those numbers is that he’s only faced 270 shots in those minutes. It speaks to a strong Rush defense, but if we’re using it in the context of evaluating goalies, Vancouver’s Tyler Richards has faced 41 more shots in 35 less minutes. Some food for thought.
Edmonton is statistically superior in almost every relevant metric, but they’ll need to play like it in order to fend off a feisty Stealth squad.
VANCOUVER
Fresh off a bye week, this game against the Rush represents a great challenge for the Stealth. For a team that hasn’t played with much confidence over the last two seasons, a win would do wonders for the mentality of the club.
They’ve been more rocky and inconsistent than flat out terrible this season, but have seemed to right the ship with their play recently. They dropped 21 on the porous Swarm defense in their last game on Feb. 28.
They’re also getting healthy, particularly on the backend. When players like Rory Smith are in the lineup, his impact on the defense is visible. Pair that with guys like Tyler Haas picking up the slack in their absence have meant improvements in shot suppression and second-chance opportunities.
They’ll still need to rely on Richards, who I’d love to see steal one for his team. We know he has that capability, but actions speak louder than words.
You can catch tonight’s game at 9 PM EST/6 PM PST on TSN GO and WatchESPN.
