ROANOKE, VA. – The Rail Yard Dawgs (14-7-3) trailed by three goals entering the third period, but came from behind to beat the first-place Birmingham Bulls (17-4-4) in a 5-4 overtime win at Berglund Center on Friday night. Dom Marcinkevics’s second goal of the game gave him his second consecutive game-winning goal in overtime (two goals, one assist), while Owen McDade, Matt O’Dea (one goal, two assists), and Nick Ford also scored for the Dawgs.
It was a back-and-forth first period, with the Dawgs outshooting the Bulls 14-10 in the frame. Birmingham added the game’s first goal at 4:52 when a great pass from Mac Lewis found MacGregor Sinclair, who roofed a backhanded shot into the Roanoke net. The Dawgs answered at 11:09, as a nasty move by Marcinkevics took all of the attention away from McDade – the pass by Marcinkevics back to McDade allowed the Roanoke center to hammer home the game-tying goal. The 1-1 score held into the first intermission.
The second period was all Birmingham. The Bulls registered the first seven shots on goal of the frame, scoring at 1:03 through Mac Lewis and at 5:03 on a long-range finish by Ryan Romeo to take a 3-1 lead. Birmingham’s second power play of the night gave them another tally, as Sinclair hammered in Drake Glover’s cross-ice pass to make it 4-1 at the 10:29 mark. Roanoke trailed by three goals after 40 minutes of action.
Roanoke roared back into the game out of the second intermission. A quick goal by Marcinkevics after he was found by McDade and O’Dea made it a 4-2 game with just under 17 minutes left in regulation. O’Dea lasered a shot from just inside the Birmingham blue line at 5:19 to bring the Dawgs within one goal, with plenty of time remaining. Birmingham tried to find an insurance goal as the pressure from Roanoke mounted, and the Dawgs finally called timeout and emptied the net with 69 seconds left in regulation. After several chances and full-on chaos in the Birmingham zone, Ford blasted a shot from just inside the left wing circle to tie the game at 4-all with just 20.1 seconds left in regulation.
A quick Birmingham turnover within the first minute landed straight at Marcinkevics, who elected to shoot the puck himself on a 2-on-1 odd-man rush and notched his second consecutive overtime winner for Roanoke. Counting the playoffs, the Bulls have now lost to the Dawgs in post-regulation in four consecutive trips to the Star City.
Austyn Roudebush made 27 saves on 31 shots faced for Roanoke, while Hayden Stewart stopped 38-of-53 shots faced for Birmingham. Roanoke was 0-for-2 on the power play, while Birmingham went 1-for-2.
The Rail Yard Dawgs will stay home tomorrow night, January 6, to take on the Knoxville Ice Bears. 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. Ticket packages, 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