Rock Crush The Rush

Toronto – The Toronto Rock (7-6) defeated the Edmonton Rush (4-8) by a score of 12-8 on Saturday night at Air Canada Centre.  The win is the third straight for the Rock who have now inched closer to clinching a playoff spot and a possible first round home playoff game.

Edmonton scored the opening two goals of the first quarter to quiet the largest crowd of the season (14,060) at Air Canada Centre.  The NLL’s player of the month helped get the Rock faithful fired up once again as Garrett Billings struck for the lone Toronto goal of the first quarter, which ended with Edmonton leading 2-1.

The two teams exchanged goals early in the quarter before the Rock rattled off 6 straight goals to build an 8-3 lead at the half.  The Rock received a significant contribution from their defenders as Toronto had 4 goals come from unlikely sources in Rob Marshall, Damon Edwards, Cam Woods and Stephen Hoar in the second quarter.

The Rock run continued in the second half scoring three more to make it 9 straight goals, building their lead to 11-4.  Edmonton went on a run of their own to close out the third quarter, scoring 3 times to close the gap to 4 goals.

The two teams only scored one goal apiece in the final 15 minutes as the Rock were able to keep Edmonton out of reach.

The Rock were led offensively by Garrett Billings who recorded a goal and 6 assists for 7 points.  Colin Doyle buried 3 goals and added 2 assists for a 5-point game.  Nick Rose won his third straight start in the Rock goal by making 38 saves.

The Rock will hit the road for three consecutive west coast road trips to wrap up the regular season.  Next weekend, the Rock are in Denver to face the Colorado Mammoth on Saturday night at the Pepsi Center.  The game will be broadcast live on CBS Sports Network at 9pm ET.