EDMONTON – The Rochester Knighthawks suffered a hard-fought 8-7, overtime loss to the Edmonton Rush Saturday night at Rexall Place. The Knighthawks (3-2) rallied late, but fell by one-goal to the Edmonton Rush (5-0).
Rochester used a three-goal fourth quarter to force OT as Johnny Powless and Stephen Keogh scored in the final three minutes to tie the contest. Matt Vinc was stellar in goal as he made 42 saves and held the highest-scoring team in the NLL to just three goals in the final three quarters.
“‘Vno’ played great. He gave us a shot to win at the end. That’s what you ask for from your defense and your goalie,” said Knighthawks forward Cody Jamieson, who had one goal and two assists. “Seven goals in the league isn’t enough. We need to score more goals.”
Rochester’s comeback bid was foiled by Mark Matthews’ goal 1:16 into the extra frame. Edmonton’s Aaron Bold was equally as strong in net, stopping 30 Rochester shots and making several big saves in the fourth quarter. On offense, Cory Conway and Curtis Knight each notched two goals as the Rush held leads of 3-0 and 5-2 in the first half.
In the second half, Rochester cut the deficit to one goal at 5-4, as Dan Dawson (2+2) and Mike Accursi scored goals for the Knighthawks. Edmonton’s Conway ended the run by scoring a power-play marker at 8:45 of the third to make it 6-4.
In the fourth, Rochester’s Joel McCready extended his goal-scoring streak to 11 games with a goal 54 seconds into the quarter. After Curtis Knight trickled a shot in to make it 7-5, Rochester began to attack Bold. Powless ripped a low shot in at 11:59 to make it 7-6 and Keogh scored with 13:56 left on a high riser to tie it.
“Cody Jamieson made a nice play and found me somewhat uncovered in the middle and luckily I buried it,” said Keogh. “Still we came away with a loss in overtime. It’s a tough one, but we have to regroup and focus for next weekend.”
The Knighthawks will return home on Saturday, February 8th to host the Buffalo Bandits at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are currently available by calling the Rochester Knighthawks’ office at (585) 454-4295.
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