ROANOKE, Va. – The Rail Yard Dawgs rallied with a strong third period, but couldn’t equalize against Fayetteville in the closing moments in a 3-2 loss at Berglund Center on Thursday night. CJ Stubbs scored both goals for the Dawgs, and Nick Devito added a pair of assists.
The first period was evenly matched throughout the first five minutes, until Roanoke went on the penalty kill for the first time at the 5:39 mark. Although the Dawgs killed the penalty, they lost their footing in the contest, and the Marksmen eventually opened the scoring at the 16:37 mark on a rebound score by Shane Bednard. Fayetteville led 1-0 at the first intermission.
Roanoke came out flying in the second period, and tied the score at the 5:06 mark on a rebound finish of its own by Stubbs. The Dawgs nearly equalized moments later, but the Fayetteville goal was knocked off of its pegs right as the puck was about to cross over the goal line. Instead, Roanoke earned a power play at the 10:24 mark, but conceded a shorthanded goal to Taylor McCloy on a quick counter-attack to go down 3–1. A long carom off of a Roanoke shot fizzled all the way to Fayetteville’s Taylor Best, who was all alone at the other end of the ice and scored to make it 3-1 with 1:29 left in the second period. That score held into the final intermission.
The Dawgs once again came out strong in the third period, outshooting Fayetteville 12-3 in the final 20 minutes. Stubbs scored on a Roanoke power play with 9:01 remaining in the period, and the Dawgs had plenty of chances to find the tying score. The slew of chances that came with their net empty and an extra attacker on failed to light the lamp in the final seconds, and Roanoke’s four-game winning streak in the series against Fayetteville came to a close.