ROANOKE, Va. – The Rail Yard Dawgs fell behind early and could not recover in a 5-2 loss to the Quad City Storm on Friday night at Berglund Center.
Quad City outshot Roanoke 16-10 in the opening period and built a 3-0 lead. Savva Smirnov set up Denver Craig for a power-play goal at 6:24, and Devin Sanders redirected a shot from Donte DiPonio at 8:13 to make it 2-0. Craig added his second goal of the period at 18:41, finishing a pass from Tommy Tsicos after beating the Dawgs’ defense wide.
Roanoke settled defensively in the second period, limiting Quad City to six shots, but neither team scored. Gustav Müller had the Dawgs’ best chance, but his rebound attempt slid wide of the open net.
The Storm extended the lead early in the third period when Nick Parody scored on a power play with a slap shot from the blue line at 5:23. Roanoke responded at 6:28 as Müller found Olivier Beaudoin in the left circle for a wrist shot to make it 4-1. The Dawgs cut the deficit to two on a power-play goal by Joe Widmar at 11:15, finishing a pass from Bryce Martin in front.
Any momentum was halted by penalties, and Sanders sealed the outcome with an empty-net goal at 17:36. Fights involving Roanoke’s Fabrice Bourgeois and Tsicos, along with Trey Deloury and Quad City’s Ashton Paul, broke out late in the game.
Gustav Müller finished with two assists for Roanoke (18-15-3), while Austyn Roudebush made 22 saves. Quad City goaltender Zane Steeves stopped 25 shots. The Dawgs went 1 for 4 on the power play, and the Storm finished 2 for 6.