The Minnesota Swarm grabbed their third win of the season last night as they picked up a 13-8 road win over the Edmonton Rush. However, it may have come at a cost as defenseman Andrew Suitor left the game with a knee injury.
Callum Crawford led the game with two goals and seven assists while Ryan Benesch also picked up six assists. Transition man Jordan MacIntosh scored three goals. Crawford’s numbers were most impressive with him playing through a hamstring injury.
“That game last year was just an off night,” Crawford said on NLL.com. “Those happen, it just happened at the worst possible time. We wanted to show that we could play with these guys. They are just as good if not better than they were last year. We were able to take it to them tonight and it felt pretty good.”
Rookie Kiel Matisz also picked up a hat trick in the game after being rookie of the week in week seven. Evan Kirk played most of the game in goal for the Swarm making 42 saves on 50 shots from Edmonton. Tyler Carlson also saw a little bit of action.
The Swarm were able to contain rookie sensation Mark Matthews who scored just one goal. Can they do that for two games in a row, especially if they don’t have Suitor? Cory Conway and Corey Small were able to get five points each last night.
“He’s [Kirk] one of those goalies, he’s real quick,” said Corey Small to NLL.com. “It seemed like we had him on those first couple shots. He’s been in the league for a year now and he’s a good goalie.”
Tomorrow afternoon these teams play each other again as Edmonton looks to rebound on the road. Edmonton has seen their struggles along with Minnesota, but if they are without Suitor for any amount of time, that will be tough for them to deal with.
