MOLINE, IL. – The Rail Yard Dawgs (23-13-3) couldn’t find their offensive rhythm, losing 3-1 to the Quad City Storm (16-22-2) on Saturday night at Vibrant Arena at the Mark. Brady Heppner scored Roanoke’s lone goal.
Roanoke dominated the first period of the game, picking up where the team left off on Friday night’s win. The Dawgs outshot the Storm 13-6 in the period, and created a plethora of good chances before they finally opened the scoring as a power play chance expired. Nick Ford tried to center the puck in the Storm zone, and it deflected to Heppner at the right wing circle. Heppner fired the puck into the net at 16:14 right as the Storm were set to be back at full strength, but the Dawgs led 1-0. The visitors carried that lead into the first intermission.
The second period saw momentum completely swing in Quad City’s favor. A centering pass by Mike Moran in transition found Cole Golka at the 3:02 mark, and the Storm tied the game at 1-1. At 8:11, Moran was sprung on a shorthanded chance by Mathias Ahman, and he blasted the Storm into the lead with a shorthanded snipe from the left wing. The Storm outshot Roanoke 14-10 in the period, and led 2-1 heading into the final frame.
The Dawgs quickly saw their deficit double, as Logan Nelson rifled the puck into the Roanoke net straight off of a designed faceoff play at 3:16 to make it 3-1. Roanoke had some chances down the stretch, but a recently struggling Storm squad was skating with an extra gear, and Quad City fended off any comeback chances to end its own losing skid of late.
Austyn Roudebush stopped 23-of-26 shots faced in net for Roanoke, while Quad City’s Kevin Resop saved 32-of-33 shots for the Storm. The Dawgs were 0-for-6 on the power play, while the Storm went 0-for-5.
Roanoke will return home on Thursday, February 23 at 7:05 p.m. EST to face the Knoxville Ice Bears at Berglund Center. Season tickets and single-game tickets are available by calling the Rail Yard Dawgs office, visiting the ‘Tickets’ page on our website, or by visiting the Berglund Center box office.
Photo Credit: Brian Collett // BC Captures