Rush in must-win territory with games against top two teams
The Saskatchewan Rush is looking for a win Saturday night in what is likely the first of two must-win scenarios.
If that's not challenging enough, Saskatchewan will be facing the top two teams for the final two games of their National Lacrosse League regular season.
It starts Saturday night against the second-place San Diego Seals (12-4 record) at Sasktel Centre.
The Rush will finish off the regular season against first-place Toronto Rock (13-3) the following Saturday, also at Sasktel Centre.
Mathematically, the odds don't favour the Rush; yet, mathematically, Saskatchewan is still alive in the playoff hunt with a 7-9 record, which currently has the Rush tied for ninth in the 15-team league.
The top eight teams qualify for the playoffs.
Saskatchewan will need to win at least one of its last two games, but most likely both, to have a chance of making it into the post-season.
“I couldn't tell you, but we're looking at the one in front of us,” Rush co-head coach and associate general manager Jimmy Quinlan said when asked if his team needed to win the last two.
“There's probably a scenario where we could maybe make it in (to the playoffs) at 8-10 but our goal, and our mindset, is to win out, so we'll just worry about San Diego. We've got a tall task and we're excited for it — we've got the top two teams in the league and we feel like we can play with anybody and we're happy to be in control of our destiny, so we're going to worry about San Diego, then we're going to worry about Toronto.”
Saskatchewan — which has its final three games of the season on home turf — is coming off a big win last weekend against the Calgary Roughnecks.
The Rush won 12-9 and never trailed once in that game.
“That,” noted Quinlan, “was probably our best game of the season and we desperately needed that to keep ourselves alive. Credit to our group. They did everything we asked of them. We said we needed to play desperate and we played desperate.
“The message moving forward is to start on time, and then to play as a desperate team. So, when we do that, we're really good. That's what we're going to be doing.”
The Rush scored four power play goals on eight chances and killed off three of four Roughneck power play opportunities.
“That (special teams) has been a focus for our group the last couple of weeks,” said Rush forward Zach Manns. “We haven't been great throughout the season, but this is the perfect time to dial in those things.”
Saskatchewan will have its hands full with San Diego's Austin Staats, who has 47 goals and 212 shots on net this season. Defensively, Seals' transition player Trevor Baptiste has scooped up 167 loose balls, third in the NLL for that category.