The Saskatchewan Rush completely shut down the Philadelphia Wings’ offence in a 14-6 road win on Sunday afternoon.
The win moves Saskatchewan to 10-1 on the season and extends their franchise-record winning streak to nine straight games. Meanwhile, the Wings are searching for answers after dropping two in a row and sitting in a tie for last place with Calgary and Oshawa.
There were a couple of milestones for the Wings. Nick Damude surpassed the 3,000-save mark, while Brennan O’Neill scored his 100th career point.
It was a historic night for Saskatchewan’s Robert Church. He recorded his 950th career point, becoming the franchise leader and surpassing Mark Matthews.
Church had a monster game with a goal and four assists, including two highlight-reel helpers. Ryan Keenan continued his career year with four goals and four assists.
Outside of two goals from O’Neill and two goals and an assist from Sam LeClair, there wasn’t much to generate offence, as the Wings’ offence struggled throughout the night.
Damude faced a heavy workload, stopping 42 of 54 shots. Deacon Knott played the final 4:49 and stopped two of four shots.
After a shaky start, Frank Scigliano settled down in Saskatchewan’s goal and stopped 41 of 47 shots in the win.
First Quarter
The first quarter looked promising for the Wings as they jumped out to a 3-0 lead.
O’Neill opened the scoring at 1:41 with a rocket of a shot. LeClair found the back of the net just 14 seconds later off a defensive breakdown by the Rush to make it 2-0.
Liam Patten went coast-to-coast in transition with 5:52 left in the quarter to make it 3-0 at the first break.
Second Quarter
Saskatchewan broke the goose egg with a three-goal run to start the second quarter and would go on to outscore Philly 14-3 the rest of the way.
Josh Zawada fired a shot through traffic at 2:11. Keenan followed with a goal up the middle at 5:35 to make it a one-goal game.
On a fast break at 7:15, Ryan Barnable pushed the ball up the floor to Jake Boudreau, who delivered a bounce pass to Keenan coming off the bench to tie the game 3-3.
O’Neill restored Philly’s lead at 8:48, finding space and going far side on Scigliano to make it 4-3 for his 100th career point.
Saskatchewan tied it with 2:15 left in the half when Mike Messenger went coast-to-coast to make it 4-4 at the break.
Third Quarter
The opening of the third quarter summed up the night for the Wings.
Jake Naso won the draw for Saskatchewan and got the ball to Messenger, who made a spin move and a series of fakes before scoring just 12 seconds into the half to give Saskatchewan a 5-4 lead.
The Wings tied it at 1:03 when Blaze Riorden picked up a loose ball in the crease and put it past Scigliano.
Twenty seconds later, Church scored on a behind-the-back shot to put the Rush back on top 6-5.
The goals kept coming. Fifteen seconds after that, Brock Haley ripped a laser to make it 7-5.
With 2:58 left in the quarter and the Rush on the power play, Church was knocked to the floor but managed to deliver a cross-floor pass to Keenan, who found Austin Shanks at the side of the net to extend the lead to 8-5.
In a bizarre finish to the period, Michael Sowers found LeClair for a quick stick that was initially called no goal as time expired. After review, the call was overturned, and the goal counted with 10.5 seconds left. Saskatchewan led 8-6 after three quarters.
Fourth Quarter
The Saskatchewan Rush imposed their will in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Wings 6-0 and fully silencing the Wings’ offence.
Shanks scored his second of the game on a quick stick power-play goal just 51 seconds into the frame.
Barnable added another at 1:06 during four-on-four play to make it 10-6.
At 4:14, Church delivered another highlight-reel assist, throwing a no-look pass while falling forward to Manns, who buried it.
Saskatchewan made it 12-6 at 6:49 when Keenan sent a cross-floor pass to Shanks for another power-play marker.
With 4:49 remaining, the Wings replaced Damude with Knott in goal.
Keenan went top corner at 3:26 and then added a behind-the-back goal with 1:35 left.
After that, the Rush controlled possession and ran out the clock, while the Wings’ offence remained completely shut down in a 14-6 final.
Below are post-game comments from Sam Leclair, Ian Rubel, and Kyle Jackson:
Top Scorers
Saskatchewan Rush
- Ryan Keenan, 4g 4a
- Robert Church, 1g 4a
- Austin Shanks, 3g 2a
Philadelphia Wings
- Sam LeClair, 2g 1a
- Kyle Jackson, 2a
- Brennan O’Neill, 2g
- Liam Patten, 1g 1a
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