By Scott Zerr
EdmontonRush.com

The Edmonton Rush usually have the toughest travel schedule of any team in the NLL.

But for once the Rush head into a road game with a slight advantage on their opposition. And with Sunday's game against the San Jose Stealth (TEAM 1260, 6 p.m.) being a showdown between teams in a battle for a playoff spot, the Rush will take any little extra edge they can get.

"We'll get down there on Saturday, have a good practice and get to bed early. I think that's a good advantage," said Rush GM/Head Coach Paul Day. "We'll spend some together and we'll be able to prepare well for the game."

While the Rush are prepping for an important matchup, the Stealth will be going nose to nose on the road against the Portland LumberJax.

The Rush had their chance in the first of three meetings this season between the teams, but the Stealth rattled off six straight goals on the way to a come-from-behind victory.

"Leading 6-5 going into the fourth quarter and then losing 11-9, I definitely think we owe them one," said Rush goalie Curtis Palidwor, the NLL's Defensive Player of the Week for his 50-save effort in the win over Toronto.

The Rush could have made life easier for themselves had they taken better advantage of their man-advantage situations.

"We had a lot of opportunities and we were 3-for-11 but we need to improve that against them," said Day. "We shut out their power play (0-for-4) but out of 11 chances we needed to better.

"Last week against Toronto we were (2-for-3) - we got our chances and we capitalized. Both of us (San Jose and Edmonton) are among the least-penalized teams so if those situations come up we definitely have got to capitalize."

A terrific performance against the Rock is certainly a guideline for how the Rush will enter a game with so much on the line.

"Toronto probably had eight or 10 possessions 5-on-5 when they didn't even get a shot," noted Day of his club's defensive strength.

"Our goals-against in the last five games has been around the nine area and that's right where we want it to be. We need to continue that, and against Toronto our defensive guys were able to create some things and that made things a lot easier.

"Our transition has been better but we never want it to be more important than our defensive game. The first job for the defence is to get possession back and then secondly to run with the ball and that has steadily been improving."