Edmonton drops second in a row to Colorado

Edmonton, AB -Win and they're in the playoffs was the storyline for the Edmonton Rush Saturday, however the Colorado Mammoth had plans of their own in a 13-6 victory over Edmonton in National Lacrosse League play at Rexall Place.

The Rush fell to 4-11 on the season and Colorado improved to 4-10 as the two clubs wrapped up the mini three-game series over nine days in the battle for the fourth playoff spot in the NLL West with the Mammoth taking two of the last three contests while holding Edmonton to only six goals scored in each contest.

"It was just a disappointing game overall," said Rush head coach and general manager Derek Keenan on Saturday. "I don't know why but for some reason we were tentative in all areas. Defensively tentative with no pressure. We sat back and let them feed. I thought we had some good pushes on offensive, but we shot the ball terribly and they played some pretty solid defense."

Ryan Ward led the Rush attack with a hat-trick and Corey Small (1G, 3A) had four points while Scott Evans and Bill Greer supplied singles and Colorado was paced by six-point performances from Brian Langtry (4G, 2A) and Joe Dalgarno (2G, 4A) and John Grant Jr. (3G, 2A) with five points.

Chris Levis grabbed the win in net with 38 stops and Matt Disher was tagged with the loss.

Edmonton -- who looked to secure a playoff spot in the NLL's West for the second consecutive season with a win over the Mammoth Saturday -- now need a victory next Saturday against Toronto and two consecutive Colorado losses in order to move onto post-season play.

"What more motivation do you need," said Keenan of his team's missed opportunity against the Mammoth Saturday. "It's been a tough year for us ... We've made some positive changes for this year and the future and then you get an opportunity to do something this year and then to play that tentatively in a game like that is the disappointing part.

"We got to win and we need help and that's the last thing we want to do," he added.

After more than four minutes of scoreless play in the first quarter Saturday Colorado broke the deadlock on Langtry's opening tally and Edmonton's Small then cut into the middle and fired a shot past Levis to tie the score at 8:09.

Later in the frame the Mammoth put together a three-goal run until Ward, with plenty of time in space, drilled a shot over Levis' left shoulder at 12:45 to cut Colorado's lead in half at 4-2 and then Grant Jr. ended the quarter scoring with 96-seconds left on the clock to put the Mammoth up 5-2.

The scoring ceased in the second quarter until Ward ripped his second of the game, from the top of the crease on the power-play goal, at 9:36 before Colorado answered back with two goals in a 30-second span, including Langtry's second goal on a dynamic behind-the-back diving-effort, to move ahead 7-3.

Edmonton pushed back while shorthanded as their transition game put three Rush players around the Colorado crease and Bill Greer's shot to the back of the net with less than three-minutes remaining in the half as Edmonton pulled to within three goals heading into halftime.

Colorado stormed out in the third quarter with two goals in the opening 2:19 of play before Evans ripped his team-leading 24th of the campaign at 4:13 to pull Edmonton within four goals and then Ward notched his hat-trick marker on a long-range shot through a crowd with the extra attacker as the Rush trailed 9-6.

Langtry continued his hot stick for the Mammoth with two more tallies late in the quarter as Colorado brought an 11-6 lead into the fourth frame.

Edmonton looked to get back in the game in the final quarter however a Mammoth five-against-three power-play resulted in a quick Colorado marker and then Grant Jr. found the mark for his hat-trick on the night as the Mammoth lead increased to seven goals and then they cruised to the 13-6 win.

The Rush wraps up the 2011 regular season with a tilt againt the Toronto Rock Saturday, April 16 at 7 p.m. at Rexall Place.

Rush mush:EDM lost the season series 2-1 to COL after defeating COL 14-10 Apr. 1 ... EDM went 1/3 on the power-play Saturday and COL was 1/7 ... EDM was outshot 47-44 ... Pat Jones went 15/23 in face-offs ... Edmonton scratched F Dane Stevens, F Kedoh Hill and D John Lintz.

By Bruce Rakoczy