Moline, Ill. – The Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs (0-2-3-0) mounted a late comeback but ultimately fell short against the Quad City Storm (4-0-0-1), 4-1, on Saturday afternoon at Vibrant Arena at The MARK.
Following an offensive explosion that produced seven combined goals the previous night, both offenses were slow to get going Saturday, resulting in a scoreless first period. Quad City outshot Roanoke 11-5, but Brandon Milberg turned aside all 11 shots he faced to keep the Storm off the board through 20 minutes.
The second period featured much of the same through the opening 19 minutes. Roanoke earned a power-play opportunity following a too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty against the Storm, but the Dawgs failed to capitalize on the man advantage.
Quad City then got its own opportunity on the power play when John Aonso was sent to the penalty box for holding at the 18:28 mark. For the second consecutive night, the Storm capitalized on the man advantage, as Stepan Steshenko redirected a shot past Milberg at 18:58 to give Quad City a 1-0 lead.
Just 12 seconds later, following a faceoff win, the Storm generated another scoring opportunity. Devin Sanders fired a shot into the top corner past Milberg to double the lead to 2-0.
After nearly 19 minutes of scoreless hockey in the period, Quad City struck twice in the final minute to carry a two-goal advantage into the second intermission.
The deficit marked the fourth time in five games that Roanoke entered the third period trailing by two goals and the third time this season the Dawgs faced a 2-0 deficit after 40 minutes.
The third period featured the most offensive action of the afternoon. At the 8:12 mark, C.J. Valerian received a game misconduct for elbowing, forcing Roanoke to kill a five-minute penalty. The Dawgs successfully killed off the major before earning a pair of power-play opportunities when Devin Sanders and Leif Mattson were sent to the penalty box at 12:07.
The penalties gave Roanoke a four-on-three advantage, followed by a five-on-three opportunity, and the Dawgs finally broke through.
Ryan Reifler continued to battle in front of the net, repeatedly poking at the puck before knocking it past Logan Flodell at 12:55 for a power-play goal. It was Reifler’s first goal of the season, with Zack Jones and David Novotny picking up the assists.
The goal cut Quad City’s lead to 2-1 and gave Roanoke life, but the Storm put the game away in the final two minutes. Sergei Safin-Tregubov scored on the power play before Stefan Diezi added an empty-net goal to seal the 4-1 victory.
Milberg finished the afternoon with 30 saves on 33 shots, while Roanoke converted once on three power-play opportunities. However, the late push was not enough as the Dawgs dropped their second consecutive game to Quad City and finished the weekend without a win.
The Dawgs return to action on Thursday, November 5, for a school-day morning game against Fayetteville inside Crown Coliseum, with puck drop scheduled for 10:00 A.M. The Dawgs are back home on Friday, November 6, to host the Pensacola Ice Flyers for Stick It to Cancer Night, sponsored by the American Cancer Society. Season tickets, ticket packages and group tickets are available through the Rail Yard Dawgs front office. Single-game tickets can be purchased online or at Berglund Center box office.