Edmonton swept in Battle of Alberta

Calgary, AB -The Battle of Alberta turned into a shootout Saturday at Scotiabank Saddledome and the Calgary Roughnecks provided more firepower in a 19-14 victory over the Edmonton Rush in National Lacrosse League play.

Goals were scored often and primarily in big runs as Calgary put together three rallies of four goals and another of five in-a-row that bested Edmonton's eight-goal rally in the first half and a three-goal run in the third quarter.

The fourth quarter saw Calgary outscore Edmonton nine-to-three that ripped the evenly matched contest open as Edmonton fell to 2-9 on the season with the loss and Calgary went to 8-3 as the Roughnecks swept the four game series against their provincial rivals.

The game saw both starting netminders - Edmonton's Matt Disher and Calgary's Mike Poulin - chased from the barrage of goals provided and respective backups Rob Blasdell and Curtis Palidwor saw reps and the Calgary win outshadowed Ryan Ward's Rush record six-point effort in the opening quarter.

Ward (2G, 5A) and Scott Evans (4G, 3A) finished the night with seven points each for Edmonton and Zack Greer (2G, 2A) had four points, while Corey Small chipped in with five assists. Andy Secore (2G), Mike McLellan (1G, 1A), Dean Hill (1G, 1A), Kyle Sweeney, and John Lafontaine had the remaining markers for Edmonton and Calgary had eight-point efforts from Dane Dobbie (5G, 3A) and Scott Ranger (4G, 4A) and nine points (1G, 8A) from Jeff Shattler.

The Roughnecks raced out to a 4-0 lead early in the opening quarter only to be followed by a barrage of Rush firepower as McLellan's first touch in the Rush silver and black put Edmonton on the board when he scored from in close and Ward then cut the lead in half 93-seconds later.

Edmonton's power-play went to work as the Rush fired four straight man advantage goals as Zack Greer netted a five-on-three power-play and then Ward, Evans and Secore all found the mark as the Rush went up 6-4 to end the scoring in the first quarter.

Lafontaine and Zack Greer, with his second of the night, added to the run until the Riggers answered back with five consecutive tallies to grab the lead 9-8 into halftime.

After 17 goals scored in the opening half, the scoring slowed initially in the second half until Dean Hill knotted the score 9-9 just over three minutes in and Edmonton took the lead back when Evans drove the net and beat Poulin to the far side at 10:03.

Sweeney then netted a goal in his first game in the Rush lineup when he scooted down the left side and found the back of the net and Edmonton took an 11-10 lead into the fourth quarter.

Secore's quick-stick off a feed from Evans gave Edmonton a two goal bulge 56-seconds in before Calgary answered back with four tallies to take a 14-12 lead and then Evans pulled Edmonton back within one with his hat-trick marker midway through the quarter.

The Roughnecks added four more goals in less than three minutes to build up an 18-13 lead and the two teams traded goals to end the scoring, 19-13.

Edmonton returns to Rexall Place next Friday, March 25 to face the Minnesota Swarm for a 7 p.m. start.

Rush mush: EDM has lost 4 straight ... EDM went 4/4 on the power-play and CGY was 2/3 ... EDM outshot CGY 47-46 ... CGY dominated face-offs winning 29 of 37 ... Edmonton scratched F Kedoh Hill, F Dane Stevens and D David Morgan.

By Bruce Rakoczy