Edmonton's Win Streak Halted

Edmonton -- Dan Dawson and the Boston Blazers played streak-busters Saturday night in Edmonton as the Blazers defeated the Rush 12-5 in National Lacrosse League action at Rexall Place.

Dawson ended Edmonton's three-game win streak as he scored five goals and added two assists for seven points in the first-ever meeting between the two teams.

The Blazers improved to 6-5, while the Rush loss dropped them to 6-4 on the season and a second place tie with Calgary (6-4) in the West Division. An Edmonton win would have vaulted the club into a first place with idle Washington (7-3).

Boston held Edmonton to a season-low five goals scored in the contest and goaltender Anthony Cosmo made 35 saves in net for the Blazers.

"They beat us in every important aspect of the game," said Rush head coach/GM Derek Keenan. "They beat us in transition. They beat us 5-on-5. They beat us in special teams. Their goaltender played well and they were a lot more desperate that us.

"Dan Dawson controlled the game as he's capable of and Anthony Cosmo played extremely well," said Keenan.

The Rush was held to two goals in the first half and the power-play went 1-4 against a stingy Blazer back-end and Edmonton failed to create elite scoring chances in the second half, as well, with only three goals scored.

"We played very hard early and created some good chances and didn't score and then we started settling on perimeter stuff and that's what teams do because they are hard to get inside on," said Keenan. "Then Cosmo makes saves and then you really start settling on 35- or 40-footers and you're not going to score those on him."

Andy Secore had a four-goal night to lead the Rush attack and Ian Crashley had the other marker.

Gary Bining (4G,1A) had five points and the trio of Brendan Thenhaus (2G, 2A), Daryl Veltman (1G, 3A) and Mat Giles (4A) all had four points for the Blazers.

Boston opened the scoring on the power-play just 50-seconds into the first quarter, but the Rush answered back less three minutes later as Secore tied the score with his 16th of the year at 3:45.

The Blazers then went on a three-goal run to take to 4-1 lead as the stingy Boston defense kept the Rush off the scoreboard the rest of the frame.

Edmonton's Secore fired his second goal of the game with a one-bouncer 2:30 in the second quarter before Dawson sandwiched a Thenhaus goal as Boston responded with three straight to make the score 7-2 at the end of the low scoring first half.

In a familiar theme, Boston came out in the third quarter on a three-goal run on tallies from Thenhaus, Bining and Dawson, to put Boston up 10-2.

Edmonton's Crashley then scored his first of the year in style, as he drove the crease and fired over Cosmo's shoulder at 12:20, before Secore netted his third of the game with just five-ticks left in the quarter and Edmonton trailed 10-4 after three quarters of play.

Boston stretched their lead to seven goals as Dawson tallied for the fifth time just under two minutes into the final quarter and Bining added to the bulge with a power-play marker at 8:01 before Secore finished the scoring with a penalty shot goal.

Edmonton continues the home streak next Saturday March 27 for a 7 p.m. start against the Minnesota Swarm at Rexall Place.

Rush mush: Matt Disher (6-3) took the loss for the Rush ... Edmonton's two goals in the first half matched a season low (@ Rochester March. 13) ... Rush power play went 1-5 in the game and the penalty kill allowed two goals in four attempts ... Pat Jones, Chris McElroy, Dean Hill, Scott Tinning and John Lintz did not dress.