After a strong first-quarter performance, the Rochester Knighthawks (4-7) were unable to generate much offensive firepower for the remainder of the contest in what became a 17-9 loss to the first-place Saskatchewan Rush (8-2) Saturday at SaskTel Centre.
Despite the defeat, Rochester has won three of its last four games on the road this season since the turn of the new year, marking the team’s longest streak in franchise history.
The Knighthawks finish the season series winless against the Rush, who have now won each of the last three encounters, including a 14-12 win in the waning seconds of the previous meeting between the two teams back on Dec. 21 in Rochester.
Ryan Lanchbury (2+4) topped all Knighthawks with four assists and six points while Connor Fields (3+1) and Ryan Smith (2+2) both recorded four points each. Fields totaled a game-high 16 shots while both he and team captain Dan Coates (0+2), who returned to the lineup after missing the last eight games, both had 10 loose ball recoveries.
Thomas McConvey (0+3) added three assists while Matt Gilray (1+1) and Graydon Hogg (1+1) each chipped in with a goal and a helper for a multi-point effort. Ian Llord, Josh Medeiros and Curtis Knight, who won a pair of NLL Championships with the Rush, had one assist apiece to close out the scoring.
Goaltenders Rylan Hartley and Riley Hutchcraft both managed the duties in the Rochester net with Hartley drawing his second start of the season. Hartley stopped 18 shots while Hutchcraft made four saves in seven minutes of relief over the course of the night.
FIRST QUARTER
While neither club was able to solve the opposition’s netminder for the first minutes of the contest, Fields opened the scoring with his first of three on the night from McConvey and Lanchbury at the 5:03 mark.
Saskatchewan, which was playing its second game of the weekend after earning a 16-13 win over Calgary on Friday, tallied a pair of goals to take a 2-1 lead with just over three minutes left in the first quarter as Zach Manns and Mike Triolo both scored.
The Knighthawks countered the two tallies as they scored four of the final five goals, the last three of which came in a 58-second span, to take a 5-3 lead into the second quarter.
Ryan Lanchbury! 🎯
The Rochester Forward scores his first goal of the game to close the first quarter. pic.twitter.com/DrCllGrWlv
— NLL (@NLL) February 16, 2025
SECOND QUARTER
The Rush, despite trailing by a pair to start the frame, found their legs as they erupted for six straight goals to build a 9-5 advantage with 5:35 left in the quarter.
Prior to the intermission break, Fields temporarily stopped the run as he finished off a long-range missile from Hogg and McConvey while on the power-play.
THIRD QUARTER
Saskatchewan pushed the lead to four as Austin Shanks, who was one of three Rush players to turn in a hat trick Saturday, scored overtop a Rochester defender just 26 seconds into the quarter.
While Gilray and Hogg cut into the deficit as they both beat Rush netminder Frank Scigliano three minutes apart, Robert Church sliced through the Knighthawks defense then scored a behind-the-back goal immediately after Hogg’s tally.
The Rush closed out the quarter with three more goals to take a 13-8 lead into the final 15 minutes of regulation.
Connor Fields nets a hat trick and his 44th assist on the season, but the Knighthawks fall short.
Fields currently ranks 6th in the NLL for assists. pic.twitter.com/bt0jxykR4h
— NLL (@NLL) February 16, 2025
FOURTH QUARTER
As Shanks finished off his four-goal outing with his second power-play goal of the matchup, Lanchbury countered with his own marker on the man-advantage to bring the visitors within five.
On the sequence after Lanchbury’s goal, Rochester nearly made it a four-goal game, however, Fields’s shot rang off the post before a Rush player grabbed the ball. As the Saskatchewan player sprinted up the floor with the ball, the Knighthawks made an illegal substitution, giving the home club a penalty shot.
Church took the penalty shot with 8:09 left in regulation, and as the Knighthawks fate would have it, the forward buried Saskatchewan’s15th goal of the night as he fired a shot overtop Hartley’s right shoulder.
The Rush added to more markers to close out the 17-9 win.
UP NEXT
The Knighthawks close out their season-long three-game road swing on Saturday, Feb. 22 when they visit the Calgary Roughnecks at WestJet Field at Scotiabank Saddledome. The 7:00 p.m. ET matchup will be the first and only meeting between the two teams this season and will be carried live on Big 107.3 FM as well as ESPN + and NLL+.
