ROANOKE, Va. – The Rail Yard Dawgs (19-15-3) delivered a big response at home on Saturday night, taking down the Quad City Storm (17-16-5) in a 4-3 victory at Berglund Center. Tim Manning notched a pair of goals, Andrew Harley and Tyson Kirkby added goals, Ryan Reifler had a pair of assists, and Gabe Rosek saved 15-of-18 shots faced in net for the Dawgs.
The Dawgs enjoyed a much better start on this night than they did on Friday, outshooting the Storm 4-0 in the first four minutes and grabbing the game’s first goal. A long-range shot by Bryce Martin was redirected by Manning at 1:41 to give Roanoke the lead. On just the second shot of the night for Quad City, Savva Smirnov burst down the left wing and snapped the puck home to tie the game at 1-1 at the 8:52 mark. A power play goal at 11:19 for the Storm after captain Tommy Tsicos tipped in a shot by Leif Mattson made it 2-1 for the visitors. Roanoke had a power play chance late in the frame and had two or three absolute grade-A chances to tie the game, but were unlucky. Despite a 9-4 shots on goal advantage, the Dawgs trailed 2-1 at the intermission.
Roanoke finally cashed in on its efforts in the second period, registering 12 of the first 14 shots on goal of the frame and outpacing the Storm 13-7 in that category overall during the frame. Mere moments after a 5-on-3 power play for the Dawgs had expired, Manning uncorked a missile from the left wing to the roof of the net to tie the game at 2-2 at 7:48. Roanoke continued to pressure Quad City in the visitors’ zone, and the forechecking work would lead to the go-ahead goal for the Dawgs. Reifler played a circle-to-circle pass to Harley at the left-wing dot, and Harley smashed the puck home at 10:47 to give Roanoke a 3-2 lead. The Dawgs had four power play chances in the period while the Storm had two, but the score remained 3-2 in favor of Roanoke at the end of 40 minutes.
The reins remained in Roanoke’s hands for much of the third period, as the lead was extended to two quickly after play resumed from the second intermission. A turnover forced by Reifler and Travis Broughman sprang a half-breakaway chance for Kirkby, and he picked out the top-left corner of the cage for an easy finish at 4:41 to give the Dawgs a 4-2 lead. Broughman was given a game misconduct for arguing a penalty called against Roanoke shortly after at 6:16, but the Dawgs stayed strong on the penalty kill down the stretch. The Storm would snag one back on a rebound finish by Denver Craig at 18:07 with their net empty to make it 4-3, but Roanoke was able to hold off any additional comeback attempt to earn a weekend split.
Josh Rosenszweig stopped 29-of-33 shots faced in net for Quad City. The Rail Yard Dawgs went 0-for-6 on the power play, while the Storm went 1-for-5 on their chances.