The Rush are the last hope for any professional sports team in the City of Edmonton to make the playoffs.

After the Oilers and Eskimos both failed to qualify for the post-season, it's up the Rush to live up to the City of Champions expectations. And on the final weekend of the 2007 NLL regular season, the Rush can make good on a goal they'd set at the beginning of the year - make the fans happy by making the playoffs.

"We've been in playoff mode for about a month," said GM/Head Coach Paul Day.

And so the Rush enter the last two games on their schedule with the mindset that they have to win each one to move on. The drive for the playoffs continues Friday night in Portland and then back at home on the Rexall Place turf Saturday night against the Calgary Roughnecks.

Two wins and the Rush are in. If the Rush and Roughnecks both lose on Friday (Calgary is at Arizona) then whichever team wins on Saturday moves on. If the Rush lose to Portland and the Roughnecks top the Sting, then Calgary gets the fourth and final playoff spot.

"I think we've put things together and we believe that we can win both games," noted Day. "It takes some for a team to jell but this is our third traveling weekend in a row and I think we've done an excellent job jelling and playing in these back-to-back games."

Both head coaches shared their thoughts on some of their key personnel and strategies.

"They're a high-energy team and I expect them to come out flying. But I don't think they have as much pressure on them as we do."

- Calgary head coach Jeff Dowling

"Looking back at the tape, I don't think Andrew Leyshon and Ryan Avery were at fault for a lot of those goals. They got some good shots and we had some defensive breakdowns."

- Dowling on Calgary's supposedly struggling goaltenders

"He has definitely been the difference since he got here and every week he gets better. And not only has he been great in the net, he's been a great leader for our young defence."

- Day on the play of Rush goalie Curtis Palidwor

"He got off to a great start and he's been consistent ever since. He gets his two or three every night and he has definitely made our power play a lot better."

- Day on Rush sniper Chris Gill

Coaches corner
The Rush may have one or both of their injured forwards back for the weekend. Both Randy Daly and Ryan O'Connor have missed recent action due to badly sprained ankles, but Day figured they might be ready with a final assessment coming after practice.

stats wrap
The Rush's penalty-killing stands second in the NLL at 62.8%, just behind San Jose. Edmonton's power play is ranked 10th at 39.6% ... Gill is eighth in the league with 36 goals but second among the league's top scorers with a .267 shooting percentage ... Gill and Jason Wulder, both former Roughnecks, lead the Rush in scoring against Calgary this season with 11 points apiece ... The Rush's only OT win in team history came against Portland earlier this season. O'Connor netted the winner in the 9-8 victory while Gill and Dan Stroup both put up four-point efforts.