Rock flexes their muscles in all-Canadian meeting

Toronto -- The Toronto Rock remained undefeated at home during the 2010 National Lacrosse League season with a 16-7 victory over the Edmonton Rush in an all-Canadian teams match-up Friday night at Air Canada Centre.

The Rock, who lead 7-5 early in the third quarter, exploded for nine goals in the second-half and held Edmonton off the board in the final quarter in the first meeting of the home-and-away series between the two teams.

Toronto's Blaine Manning had a 10-point night on the strength of five goals and five assists and Colin Doyle had two goals and six assists as the Rock improved to four wins and zero losses at home.

Edmonton transition player Scott Stewart led the Rush attack with two goals and two assists for four points and Gavin Prout (2G, 1A) had three points.

The Rush have dropped two games in a row and fell to 3-3 on the season, while the Rock improved to 6-1.

"There were too many mistakes out there," said Rush head coach/GM Derek Keenan. "There were too many defensive shifts where we just didn't finish the job."

The Rush allowed 16 goals-against Friday, the most Edmonton has surrendered this season and Edmonton only sc ored seven-times against Toronto's high-pressure defense to tie a season-low.

"There were too many key guys that didn't perform out there," Keenan said of his club's offensive woes. "This is a performance-based business and if you don't perform, you're not going to have success."

"We never got into a flow tonight and our last two games haven't been the effort and the outcome that we wanted," said Rush captain Chris McElroy. "If you take any shifts off against this team, they're going to make you pay and they made us pay tonight.

"They've got tons of offensive weapons on that team and we gave them too many opportunities."

The Rush jumped out to a quick lead as Brodie Merrill scored from close range at just 45-seconds in, however the Rock fired back twice as Kasey Biernes and Manning found the net to put Toronto up 2-1.

Manning then struck again, at 9:47 on the power-play and the Rock continued the run with two goals from Stephan Leblanc that chased Rush goalie Matt Disher from the net at 5-1.

Edmonton got back into the game in the second quarter on the strength of back-to-back goals by Prout and the Rush outscored Toronto three-goals to two in the frame to trail 7-4 at half-time.

After Edmonton grabbed the first goal of the third quarter to pull within two goals, the Rock went on to outscore the Rush six-to-two in the rest of the stanza, to pull ahead 13-7.

Toronto continued to pour it on in the fourth quarter with a three-goal run to capture the contest 16-7.

The Rush scored the first goal in each of the first three quarters, however, the club failed to capitalize on the fast starts in the contest.

With Friday's victory, Toronto holds a 6-2 edge in the head-to-head meetings.

The Rush returns home next weekend for a Feb. 21 matinee at 1:30 at Rexall Place in the back-half of the club's home-and-home series against Toronto.