MACON, GA. – The Rail Yard Dawgs (6-5-2) prevailed for the third straight day against the Macon Mayhem (2-5-3) on Sunday afternoon, as Roanoke rounded out a three-game weekend sweep of the Mayhem with a 3-2 win at the Macon Coliseum. Tim Manning, Joe Widmar, and Gustav Müller scored goals for Roanoke, Travis Broughman added two assists, and goaltender Austyn Roudebush stopped 29-of-31 shots faced in net for the Dawgs.
Roanoke was able to dominate most of the first period, despite a couple of Macon power play opportunities. The Dawgs opened the scoring at 5:24, after Joe Widmar and Noah Finstrom won a board battle at the left-wing wall of the Macon zone and worked the puck into the slot. Manning’s first chance was saved, but he followed his own rebound to put Roanoke on the board. Right as Macon’s first power play was concluding, Widmar came out of the box to join Broughman and Müller on a 3-on-3 rush for Roanoke. Müller’s pass from the right wing found Broughman at the left wing, and Broughman put his pass on the platter to the back post for an easy tap-in finish for Widmar at 16:21. There were multiple penalties late in the period, first giving Macon a double-minor power play after Widmar received a pair of cross-checking calls, but that was wiped out when Macon’s Michael Krupinski got a fighting major and a continuing altercation misconduct with 13.9 tics left in the period. After the whistle blew to end the period, Roanoke’s Andrew Stacey and Macon’s Jake Goldowski fought, and both players received game misconducts. The Dawgs would take the 2-0 lead into the second period.
There were multiple power play chances for Roanoke from the penalties at the end of the first period and an early whistle for cross-checking to Macon’s Conor Witherspoon to start the second, but the opportunities came up empty for the visitors. Roanoke would find the game’s next goal, as a beautiful no-look pass by Broughman was hammered into the net by Müller at 9:22 to make it 3-0. Macon would answer late on in the second period, as a breakaway finish by Connor May at 18:03 gave the Mayhem their first even-strength goal of the weekend. The score was 3-1 heading to the final 20 minutes.
It was a survival mode third period for the Dawgs, as two more Macon power play chances and a shots on goal margin of 18-6 in the Mayhem’s favor kept Roanoke pinned down. Roudebush came up with big stops in net for the Dawgs, but the hosts would cut the deficit in half once the Mayhem emptied their net for an extra attacker. Macon captain Alex Cohen fired the puck home with 90 seconds left to make it a 3-2 game following a net-front scramble, and the Mayhem had other chances in the closing seconds to find a tying goal. Roudebush and the Roanoke defense did enough to seal the win, giving the Dawgs a three-game road sweep of Macon and a total of nine points out of a possible 12 during a stretch in the schedule in which Roanoke played six games in nine days.
Josh Boyko stopped 25-of-28 shots faced in net for Macon. The Dawgs were 0-for-1 on the power play, while the Mayhem went 0-for-5 on their chances.
The Rail Yard Dawgs will return home to host the Knoxville Ice Bears on Wednesday, November 26, at Berglund Center at 7:05 P.M. EST. Season ticket packages and group tickets are on sale by contacting the Rail Yard Dawgs’ front office. Single game tickets for the season are on sale now online and at Berglund Center box office.
Photo Credit: Phillip Lassor // Inside The Rink