ROANOKE, Va. – The Rail Yard Dawgs (15-12-3) couldn’t sustain momentum on Friday night, as Roanoke fell 5-2 to the Macon Mayhem (11-11-4) at Berglund Center. Travis Broughman had one goal and one assist, Austin Thompson scored his first goal with Roanoke, and Gabe Rosek stopped 30-of-35 shots in net for the Dawgs.
Roanoke had a much better level of energy to start Friday’s game compared to Thursday’s loss to Birmingham, generating a bunch of high-quality chances in the first period. Despite the solid level of physicality early on from the Dawgs, plus a power play chance for the hosts, the Mayhem were able to take advantage of some Roanoke mistakes in the first period. Two penalties by Roanoke in the span of just over a minute put Macon on a 5-on-3 power play, and the visitors scored on both penalty opportunities. Jonathan Bartuccio-Pereira snapped home a one-timer at 10:07 from the right-wing circle, then Parker Allison found the net at 10:49 from the left-wing side, as Macon took a 2-0 lead on the pair of power play goals. The Dawgs had more of the puck in the opening period overall, but trailed 2-0 after 20 minutes.
The second period started with the Dawgs held to just one shot on net in the first 11 minutes, but then the hosts settled in. A tidy finish by Broughman after Bryce Martin held in a Macon clearance attempt put the Dawgs on the board at 10:55, cutting the deficit to just one. Roanoke held the puck in the Macon zone for most of a three-to-four minute stretch around this halfway point in the period, but the first time that Macon got a transition chance, they capitalized. Drew Welsch potted a rebound goal at 12:57 to push the lead back to 3-1 for the visitors after Connor May’s shot was saved. Just 61 seconds later, another odd-man rush allowed Conor Witherspoon to center the puck to Matteo Ybarra, and Ybarra’s goal made it 4-1 for Macon at 13:58. The Dawgs would answer with a power play goal late in the frame, as Thompson’s first goal as a Dawg from the low slot found the back of the net after a nice play by Broughman at 18:32. Roanoke trailed 4-2 heading to the final frame.
Despite trailing by two entering the third period, Roanoke never could grasp a hold of the game down the stretch. Martin would drop the gloves and deliver a solid smackdown on Macon’s Michael Herrera at 6:34, but the Dawgs were outshot 15-6 in the final 20 minutes despite trailing. A mistake on a defensive zone faceoff by Roanoke led to an easy tap-in goal for Ybarra at 8:25, essentially sealing the fate for the Dawgs. It marked Roanoke’s third loss in a row, while Macon is now up to a four-game winning streak entering tomorrow’s action.
Josh Boyko stopped 25-of-27 shots faced in net for Macon. The Dawgs went 1-for-4 on the power play, while the Mayhem went 2-for-5 on their chances.