NLL Week 4 Primer

After three weeks, we have rapidly arrived at the “are we sure we actually know who is good and who isn’t” portion of the NLL season. Everyone has now played at least one game, though some clubs still haven’t had their home opener.  Rochester and Las Vegas will both play their home opener this weekend, while Philly and Vancouver go on the road for the first time. Last week we had the full gamut of seven games with all 14 teams in action, this week it’s just four games. Here’s the rundown

FRIDAY

Who: Vancouver Warriors (1-1) vs Oshawa FireWolves (1-2)

Where: Tribute Communities Centre, Oshawa

When: 7:30pm, EST

The Spread: Vancouver favored by 1.5 (-130), game total set at 20.5

SATURDAY

Who: Philadelphia Wings (1-0) vs Rochester Knighthawks (1-0)

Where: Blue Cross Arena, Rochester

When: 7:00pm EST

The Spread: Philadelphia favored by 1.5 (+190), game total set at 23.5

Who: Georgia Swarm (1-1) vs Saskatchewan Rush (1-1)

Where: Sasktel Centre, Saskatchewan

When: 8:00pm EST

The Spread: Saskatchewan favored by 1.5 (-154), game total set at 23.5

Who: Ottawa Black Bears (1-1) vs Las Vegas Desert Dogs (0-1)

Where: Lee’s Family Forum, Las Vegas

When: 10:00pm EST

The Spread: Ottawa favored by 1.5 (+124), game total set at 22.5

STORIES TO WATCH

What’s your encore?

Two teams have me interested in what they’ve got for a follow up. The first in Rochester. They beat the Seals last week behind an otherworldly effort from Rylan Hartley in net. He registered 58 saves, slamming the door on the Seals from wire to wire. The Knighthawks offense did it’s thing, racking up 15 goals, which is what I’d expect given their personnel. Coming into the year, I expected Rochester to win in shootouts. Their loaded offense is more than capable of routinely putting up 15 goals. But the Hartley performance was an eye opening moment. If Hartley can play at that high a level sustained over the year, the Hawks are a legit threat to win it all. Second, let’s see what Vegas can do in their home opener. They were smacked pretty good by Vancouver last week. They added some proven scorers and winners in the offseason in free agency. Ottawa is a solid team, and Vegas is probably better than they showed against Vancouver. I’ll be looking to see how Vegas shows up in the first two minutes, first five minutes, and first ten minutes of the game against Ottawa. Sustained high compete levels will tell you a lot about the Dogs character. 

Can the FireWolves offense figure it out?

As I noted in my overreactions this week, the Oshawa offense is seriously stuck in the mud right now. As a team they’re shooting 10%.  Dyson Williams, Alex Simmons, Tye Kurtz, and Ethan Walker, the go to weapons for the Wolves, have combined for 12 goals on 102 shots on goal. IT doesn’t get any easier this week. They host the Warriors, backstopped by one of the best goalies in the sport, Christian Del Bianco. Some of the woes can probably be attributed to just the goalie lineup that Oshawa has faced so far. Nick Rose, then an all time performance from Warren Hill, then Brett Dobson, and now Del Bianco. But that’s an excuse, and one that a contender would never lean on. The fact of the matter is, a playoff team finds ways to put the ball in the net against that caliber of netminder. This weekend kicks off a three game homestand in Oshawa, where the crowd was big and energized for the opener. Perhaps the Wolves can feed off the home energy to get the goalies flowing. 

Playoff rematch on the green turf

Georgia heads out to Saskatchewan this week. Last spring these two met in Saskatchewan in the playoffs, with the Rush winning 13-9. Swarm netminder Brett Dobson has always had some of his best stuff against the Rush. He’s also gotten out to a good start this year, at 83% through two games and averaged 45 saves a night. He’ll see plenty of rubber in this one. Jake Naso is healthy for the Rush, and the Swarm have been woefully bad facing off since Jeremy Thompson wasn’t re-signed this offseason. It’s a big night for the Swarm rookies as well, who have been very impressive so far. Michael Grace is a genuine Rookie of the Year candidate, Nolan Byrne has been very good on offense, Ben Trumble has been solid, it’s a solid core of young players making the most of being thrust into the lineup and asked to be impact players right away. A road game against a very good Rush team, along with a road date in Buffalo that kicked off the season, is a crucible for rookies that will pay dividends as the season goes on.