Toronto Rock: Offence hits a wall in loss to Georgia Swarm

A good performance from Nick Rose and the Toronto Rock defence couldn’t seal the win as they dropped their second straight to the Georgia Swarm.

The Toronto Rock had to sit and think over a crushing overtime loss to the rival Georgia Swarm two weeks ago on the road.

Following their bye week, the Rock had a chance to exact revenge on the Swarm in front of their home crowd on Saturday.

Unfortunately for them, it was not to be, as Georgia swept the season series with a 12-7 win.

The Rock was rolling out of the gates, with three goals in the first five minutes of the game.

Brett Hickey’s goal with 11:08 to go in the second put the Rock ahead 5-3. To the surprise of the team as well as the Rock faithful at the Air Canada Centre, that would be the last goal they would have for another two quarters.

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The Swarm defence put the clamps down on the Rock forwards and forced mostly outside looks against, which were swallowed up easily by goaltender Mike Poulin.

The Georgia attack was able to take their first lead of the game and, with a lot of help from the back-end, take control of the game.

The one opening that they gave the Rock came when forward Jordan Hall got his stick up high on Damon Edwards, who set a pick on Hall during a scramble for a loose ball.

Edwards would be down for a short period of time but would tough it out for the rest of the game.

Hall, on the other hand, received a five-minute major penalty for an illegal body-check and a game misconduct.

With that five-minute power-play, the Rock still were unable to break through and cut their deficit.

Following the game, Swarm Head Coach Ed Comeau spoke about the effort from his defence and goaltender:

"“I think we’re athletic back there and we talk about being aggressive on the ball. We really focused on trying to eliminate the time and space and being active on the ball.”“It’s very rare on a five-minute major that you can kill a whole one off so being able to kill a five off is huge. Big morale boost for us. I think our man-short was awesome but Poulin made some huge saves.”"

Rock goalie Nick Rose turned in a great shift, making 43 saves on 54 shots. He managed to stay in the game despite going down awkwardly after diving across the crease to make a stop.

Post-game, Toronto Head Coach Matt Sawyer commended his defence and goalie for keeping the team in the game in the second half:

"“They gave us an opportunity. We should be able to win a game where you get that type of goaltending and defence and keep a talented team like Georgia to that (amount of goals).”"

With the loss, the Toronto Rock have dropped three of their last four games. In a log-jammed East Division, the Rock sits just a half-game out of first, and last.

Sawyer isn’t blind to the predicament his team is in heading into play over the next few weeks. The Rock take on the New England Black Wolves in their next two games, first in Toronto, and then at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Connecticut.

When asked about what needs to change, Sawyer was blunt:

"“We’re in a battle in the East for a playoff spot, so we better figure it out in a hurry.”"

Next: Leafs: Lamoriello’s future becomes more complicated

What do you think needs to change for the Toronto Rock’s offence to get back on track and how concerning is the lack off offence? Let us know in the comments.