A career night from Ed Gainey helped send the Saskatchewan Roughriders into their bye week on a high note.

The Riders scored early and often on their way to a 41-8 rout of the B.C. Lions on Sunday night at Mosaic Stadium.

The win came just one week after the Riders were thoroughly defeated 30-15 at the hands of the Lions in Vancouver.

“It’s been a frustrating week for our program, coaches, players, everybody,” said Riders head coach Chris Jones. “There was a bad taste in our mouth and there was only one way to get it out.”

Saskatchewan’s offense was clicking on all cylinders throughout the game, but it was Gainey and the Riders’ defense that led the way in the game. Gainey finished with a franchise-record four interceptions, as well as a fumble recovery, as the Riders forced the Lions into seven turnovers.

“I started off slow in these first six games of the season and I expected a lot more out of myself,” said Gainey. “I had my son coming into town this week and I just had a feeling that I was going to be able to make some plays out there today. I didn’t think it was going to be four, but they came and I took advantage of them.”

Jones said he spoke with Gainey this week and was happy to see him play motivated in the win.

“I’ve been on him since camp to be more aggressive, we spoke this week and I told him, you’re a good player but you’re not playing like a good player and tonight I saw that same confidence that I’ve seen from him in the past,” said Jones.

“Ed Gainey is a good football player and tonight you saw the guy that we expect him to be all the time.”

The Riders had built up an 8-0 lead late in the first quarter and Gainey already had one interception at that point when Lions quarterback Jonathan Jennings floated a pass over the middle that Gainey picked off and ran back 49 yards for a touchdown.

He ran over to the sidelines and handed the ball to his young son, Grayson. “For him to come to this game, I just wanted to make sure it was memorable for him,” said Gainey.

The game was memorable for many in Rider Nation as it was another sign that the organization is starting to turn a corner despite hitting a low just last week.

The Riders were able to snap a five-game losing skid against West Division opponents and improved to 3-4 on the year heading into their second bye week of the season. They also have won the season series against the Lions on point differential, which could be key later in the season.

“When you have an outing like the game before this one in B.C, you want to get on the field as soon as possible and everyone came to play tonight,” said Riders quarterback Kevin Glenn. “When you’ve got the defence getting takeaways like that, you can’t do nothing but put points on the board as an offence. The defensive energy carried the team tonight.”

After starting slow in three straight games, the Riders tried something different to start Sunday’s game, after winning the coin toss, they decided to take the ball to start the game.

Their opening drive stalled, but Gainey’s first interception sparked the team and Glenn found receiver Bakhari Grant over the middle for a 35-yard touchdown that made it 8-0 just over eight minutes into the game.

Two plays later, Gainey’s pick-six made it 15-0 and the Riders were really rolling after that.

Running back Cameron Marshall finished off the next drive with a one-yard touchdown run to make it 22-0 for the Riders early in the second quarter.

The Riders benefited from great field position later in the quarter and Glenn connected with Marshall for a 29-yard catch and run touchdown that made it 29-0 at halftime.

Saskatchewan eventually pushed their lead to 36-0 on a seven-yard touchdown pass from Glenn to Duron Carter early in the third quarter. They added a safety and a 24-yard field goal from Tyler Crapigna in the fourth quarter to roll to the win.

“We weren’t as good as we should have been the week before, but this week I think we turned it around and the energy from the start played a big part,” said Glenn, who finished 19-of-25 for 320 yards, three touchdowns and one interception in the game.

Saskatchewan used a balanced attack on offence to move the ball throughout the game with Marshall posting 12 carries for 46 yards and a touchdown, but he also had three catches for 58 yards and a touchdown.

Seven different receivers caught a pass from Glenn in the win as the Riders posted 404 total yards of offence.

Defensively, the Riders made life miserable for Jennings, who was playing for the first time in three weeks. He ended the game 14-of-30 for 195 yards with one touchdown and four interceptions.

Travis Lulay came in for the second quarter and went 5-of-9 for 54 yards, while Alex Ross finished the game and threw the record-setting pick to Gainey in the fourth quarter.

In addition to the success in the secondary, the Riders were able to pressure all three Lions quarterbacks, finishing with four sacks, including a pair from defensive lineman Tobi Antigha.

“It was just focus, everybody was determined to make plays out here, we all know that we put a bad product on the field last week, so we wanted to come out here and make a statement,” said Antigha.

“Coach Jones was calling great plays and I was just trying to help my team out and that’s what it really came down to is just doing your job and being in good position to make plays.”

The key for the Riders now will be keeping the momentum gained in this win over their bye week and try to erase their struggles on the road so far this season where they’re 0-3.

“We seen what happened last time we had a win here, went on the bye week and then had to go on the road, so we want to make sure that we don’t do that,” said Glenn.

The Riders will have Week 9 off and then return to game action on Aug. 25 in Edmonton against the currently undefeated Eskimos.