The Edmonton Rush are 0-2 after a 14-10 loss to the Minnesota Swarm in front of 7,415 stunned fans. The home crowd left Rexall Place bewildered after witnessing their team lose in a complete meltdown as Minnesota scored nine times in the last quarter of the game.
The game started with a moment of silence for the recent passing of Wendy Keenan, the wife of Edmonton’s head coach Mike Keenan.
The scoring was started by Minnesota when Ethan O’Connor scored shorthanded while teammate Alex Crepinsek was serving a holding penalty at 4:10 of the opening quarter. Less than two minutes later the Swarm struck again when Miles Thompson beat Bold to make it 2-0.
The Rush stormed back and tied the game before the quarter was over on goals by Riley Loewen and a power play goal by Robert Church.
The Rush continued scoring at ease with four goals to start the second quarter from Mark Matthews (2), Ben McIntosh, and Chris Corbeil. The teams traded goals near the end of the half to give Edmonton a 7-3 lead heading into the half.
Edmonton came out flying in the third and scored two quick goals. Church scored just 31 seconds in and Jarrett Davis at 2:18 giving the Rush a commanding 9-3 lead.
The Rush fans assumed the rout was on, but the Swarm decided to make a goalie change pulling former Rush goalie Brodie MacDonald and replacing him with Zack Higgins.
The Swarm seemed to stabilize after the goalie change. No goals exchanged for a 10-minute period in the third quarter until Minnesota scored two late quarter goals that seemed to spark the team heading into the last frame.
Minnesota came out buzzing in the fourth with a goal by Shayne Jackson only 44 seconds in, followed by Miles Thompson under a minute later to make it a two goal game.
The Rush replied with a goal by McIntosh at 6:23 to restore a three-goal lead. That would be the last goal of the night for Edmonton. What happened next has to be considered a complete collapse from all aspects of the Rush game plan.
The Swarm scored at will, as Aaron Bold was unable to track the ball for any big saves. Edmonton had trouble with their transition game resulting in continuous turnovers, and when they did manage to get control in the offensive zone they could not maintain and execute to stop the momentum swing.
Perhaps the most telling moment was the winning goal by Miles Thompson. It looked like Thompson was covered by the Edmonton defense and while falling he managed to get off a blind shot that went to the top corner of the net.
The Rush have a bye week coming up and hope to regroup before they take on the Calgary Roughnecks in Calgary with both Alberta teams resuming the Battle of Alberta with 0-2 records.
