ROANOKE, Va. – The Rail Yard Dawgs (23-10-7) couldn’t hold on in overtime, falling to the Evansville Thunderbolts (16-21-3) in a 3-2 loss at Berglund Center on Saturday night. Josh Nenadal and Jesse Anderson scored for the Dawgs,
The first period was a back-and-forth affair, as the Dawgs outshot Evansville 17-14. The lone tally came from a beautiful centering feed by Billy Roche to Nenadal, who jammed it home at 6:24 to push Roanoke ahead. The Dawgs would take that one-goal advantage into the first intermission.
Evansville roared out in the second period, registering 13 of the first 15 shots on goal in the period. The equalizer came at 8:08, when Vadim Vasjonkin tipped a long-range shot by Nick Prestia to make it 1-1. Another shot from distance by Evansville’s Hayden Ford got blocked, and the only person to see the puck in the low slot was Myles Abbate. The Thunderbolts forward slammed the rebound into the net at 13:03 to give Evansville its first lead of the weekend at 2-1. The Dawgs would tally nine of the final 12 shots in the period, but trailed 2-1 at the end of the frame. Roanoke would carry 82 seconds of power play time into the third period.
Roanoke hit the post on the power play early in the third period, and the Bolts killed off the penalty. About half a minute after play returned to 5-on-5, the Dawgs would find the tying goal. Anderson was able to rifle the puck into the net from the center point to make it 2-2 at the 2:06 mark. The Dawgs had plenty of chances to find the go-ahead goal in the third period, even hitting the post again, but both teams would earn a point as the game went to overtime. In overtime, a blue-line blast by Dmitry Yushkevich gave Evansville the second point just 48 seconds into the extra frame. After winning seven out of its first 10 overtime games this season, the Dawgs have now lost four consecutive overtime decisions.
Tyler Roy stopped 38-of-41 shots for Roanoke, while Brendahn Brawley saved 39-of-41 shots faced for Evansville. Roanoke went 0-for-2 on the power play, while Evansville went 0-for-1 on its chance.
The Rail Yard Dawgs will hit the road on Monday night, February 19, to take on the Macon Mayhem. Puck drop is slated for 7:00 P.M. EST at the Macon Coliseum