Edmonton tied for first place with Merrill's dramatics over Minnesota

Saint Paul, MN, -- For the second night in a row, the Edmonton Rush needed an overtime for a victory and Brodie Merrill provided the fabulous finish Saturday as the Rush edged the Minnesota Swarm 13-12 in National Lacrosse League action at Xcel Energy Center.

Edmonton, victorious in six of their last seven games, overcame a five-goal fourth quarter deficit to tie the score with 14 seconds remaining in regulation, that set up Merrill's heroics.

Merrill, who had five points and 15 loose balls in the game, was able to fire into an empty Minnesota cage 5:36 in extra time after goaltender Nick Patterson scrambled back to cover the Swarm's extra attacker move.

Edmonton, who defeated Washington 14-13 in overtime Friday at Rexall Place, moved into a first place tie with the Stealth, each with 9-4 records and each securing post-season berths in the NLL's West Division, while Minnesota fell to 5-7 with the loss.

"It was pretty ecstatic," said Rush head coach/GM Derek Keenan of his club's victory. "To come back like that is a great team builder for the guys and a credit to the kind of leadership we have a group.

"I think we may have a chance to do something special here," he added. "We're not a good team statistically, but we figure out ways to win games and that's what winners do. And we have a lot of them in our locker room."

Saturday, former players from both sides showed off their respective wares as Edmonton's Ryan Ward fired four goals and added two assists in the win and Minny's Callum Crawford (5G, 5A) had a 10-point game in the loss, while former Swarmers Andy Secore (1G, 5A) and Dean Hill (1G, 2A) also hit Edmonton's scoresheet.

Gavin Prout, with four points (2G, 2A), tied the score at 12-12 with only 14 seconds remaining in regulation and the Rush defense, backstopped by Brandon Atherton, held Minnesota to only three goals in the second half.

Edmonton outscored Minnesota 6-1 in the fourth quarter and 1-0 in the important extra frame.

"They kind of let us hang around and that was a mistake on their part. We just hung in there and got a couple of breaks and then we got some great plays from a lot of individuals," said Keenan.

Atherton (2-1), who earned his second consecutive win in relief of starter Matt Disher, allowed only four goals on 38 shots, while Patterson took the loss for the Swarm.

"That's two nights in a row that kid's come in and just completely closed the door," Keenan said of Atherton. "It's great he can come in a spell Dish, who's struggled this week and I know Dish will bounce back. A little competition is good back there."

Minnesota build up a 4-0 first quarter lead before Ward fired three of Edmonton's first four goals and then the Swarm went on a two goal run to end the quarter up 6-4.

Crawford then put Minny up by four goals in the second quarter with back-to-back tallies within the first five minutes that chased Disher from Edmonton's net and then Hill closed the gap to three goals with his marker at 6:50.

The Swarm added to their lead when an odd bounce caromed off Hill and passed Edmonton's goal line, however, Prout responded back for the Rush at 11:22, with his 20th of year, after he picked up a rebound in front and deposited into the cage to make the score 9-6.

Shots were even at 31 apiece in the first half.

Both defenses tightened in the third quarter as neither team could penetrate the net until the mid-point of the frame when Minnesota fired back-to-back goals and the Swarm led 11-6. Patterson then held Edmonton off the scoreboard for the remainder of the quarter as Minnesota took a five-goal lead into the last quarter.

Merrill cut the lead to four with his long range rip just over two minutes into the frame, however, the Swarm answered back 42-seconds later.

Secore then fired back for Edmonton at 7:03 as he sniped his 21st of the year on the power-play and Quinlan made it 12-9 with a strong drive to the net at 8:21.

Edmonton continued the run as Small converted a cross crease pass at 10:13 with an extra attacker on and the Rush then struck again, at 12:00, as Hill crease dunked Ward's feed to make the score 12-11.

After Ian Crashley intercepted a Minnesota scoring attempt at Edmonton's empty net, the Rush went down the carpet and Prout converted Ward's feed with only 14-seconds remaining to tie the score 12-12.

Merrill, then supplied the overtime magic for Edmonton.

The Rush returns home next weekend for a game against the Colorado Mammoth Friday, April 9 at 7 p.m. at Rexall Place.

Rush mush: Pat Jones went 16-29 in face-offs and collected 17 LBs ... John Lintz earned his first assist of the season in his first game ... Edmonton is now 4-3 on the road ... Minnesota's power-play went 1-3 and Edmonton 2-4 ... Edmonton outshot Minny 66-60 ... Chris McElroy, Bruce Alexander, Ian Hawksbee, Dane Stevens and Ryan McNish did not dress ... Edmonton defeated Minnesota 16-14 at Edmonton's Rexall Place March 27.

Story by Bruce Rakoczy