ROANOKE, VA. – The Rail Yard Dawgs entered the third period tied 3-3 with the Pensacola Ice Flyers, but were outscored 4-1 in the final 20 minutes in a 7-4 loss on Friday night at Berglund Center. Jeff Jones scored twice for Roanoke, while Chris Vella and CJ Stubbs tacked on goals as well.
The first period saw Pensacola take an early lead less than two minutes into the action on a weird bounce that gave Brandon Tucker a point-blank chance. In the final 17 seconds of the opening period, Brennan Blaszczak fired in a power play goal to make the score 2-0 entering the first intermission.
Roanoke bounced back strong in the second period, as Vella slammed home a rebound chance at the 4:07 mark followed by a CJ Stubbs finish just one minute and 38 seconds later that knotted the score at 2-2. Pensacola’s Vincent Susi pushed the visitors back ahead at the 13:36 mark, but Jones tied the score back at 3-3 with 2:52 remaining in the period. The game remained deadlocked entering the final period.
Pensacola started the third period on the power play, and Ivan Bondarenko scored with just six seconds left on the man advantage to reinstate Pensacola’s lead for good with 19:23 left to play. A Marcus Russell score at the 14:57 mark made it 5-3 Pensacola, but Jones muscled home a loose puck in the crease with 4:16 remaining to give Roanoke hope. A late power play chance led to Blaszczak’s second power play goal of the night with 1:48 to play, and Bondarenko netted his second goal of the game 26 seconds later to add extra insurance for the Ice Flyers in their 7-4 victory.
Austyn Roudebush saved 21-of-28 shots that he faced for Roanoke, while former Dawg Cody Karpinski stopped 29-of-33 shots for Pensacola. The Ice Flyers went 3-for-4 on the power play, while Roanoke went 1-for-5 on its chances.
The Rail Yard Dawgs are back home tomorrow night at 7:05 p.m. EST for Superhero Night sponsored by Wisler Plumbing and Air and K92 Radio. Wisler Plumbing and Air Family Four Packs, group tickets, 2022-2023 season tickets, and single game tickets for home games are on sale now, and you can listen to the games on the Haley Toyota Rail Yard Dawgs Hockey Network via Mixlr or watch it on HockeyTV.
Photo Credit: Mark Sawyer