ROANOKE, VA. – The Rail Yard Dawgs (10-5-3) continued their season series dominance in a key rivalry on Friday night, outlasting the Fayetteville Marksmen (13-5-3) in a 2-1 overtime win at Crown Coliseum. Xavier Filion scored the game-winning goal in overtime, Mac Jansen scored the lone goal in regulation for the Dawgs, and Roanoke moved to 5-0-1 against the Marksmen this season.
The opening score came just 32 seconds in, when a great pass by CJ Stubbs was chased down by Jansen, who flicked the puck inside of the left goalpost to give Roanoke the lead. Roanoke’s Austyn Roudebush made a great save later in the period to deny Fayetteville’s Tyler Barrow, but Cam Cook was there to hammer in the rebound to tie the score at 11:06. The Dawgs did receive their first power play late in the period, but didn’t capitalize. The game was still tied at 1-all after 20 minutes.
The second period saw the Dawgs earn plenty of chances, gaining two more power plays throughout the first 15 minutes of the frame and outshooting the Marksmen 9-3 during that time frame. Fayetteville got its first power play at 15:21, and reeled off four of the final six shots on goal during the period. Neither team was able to find a go-ahead goal, and it was still 1-1 heading to the final period of regulation.
Roanoke continued to control the tempo in the third period, outshooting Fayetteville 12-5 in the frame. Brendan Stanko did ring the post for the Dawgs, and both teams had two more power play chances in the frame, but it was all knotted at 1-1 after three periods. In overtime, the Dawgs took the first chance that they got, as Brendan Pepe’s pass found Filion at Roanoke’s own blue line. Filion weaved from the left wing side of the ice, through the slot in the Fayetteville zone, and blasted the puck into the net at 1:15 to give Roanoke its fifth win in six games against Fayetteville this season.
Roudebush made 21 saves on 22 shots faced for Roanoke, while Fayetteville’s Ryan Kenny stopped 29-of-31 shots faced. The Dawgs went 0-for-5 on the power play, while the Marksmen went 0-for-3.
The Rail Yard Dawgs will return home tomorrow night, December 23, to take on the Fayetteville Marksmen. Puck drop is slated for 7:05 P.M. EST at Berglund Center, and you can watch the game on Flo or listen for free on Mixlr. Season tickets, group tickets, and single game tickets are on sale now by contacting the Rail Yard Dawgs office or visiting the Berglund Center box office.
Photo Credit: Paula Greenway