By Mitch Stewart | Roanoke RYD
The Rail Yard Dawgs (20-8-2) couldn’t get the offense going, falling 4-1 to the Birmingham Bulls on Saturday night at Berglund Center. Jarrad Vroman scored the lone goal for Roanoke, while CJ Stubbs extended his franchise record point streak to 10 games.
Roanoke and Birmingham were in a tug of war for control of the game in a first period that ended scoreless. The Bulls had two power play chances to one for the Dawgs, and Birmingham had a 12-9 shots on goal advantage, but neither team opened the scoring by the first intermission.
The second period saw the game open up. A half-breakaway was tucked in by Scott Donahue for the Bulls at 2:11 to break the deadlock. A rebound goal for Vroman off of a Nick Ford slapshot at 6:07 tied the score at 1-1. Michael Gillespie blasted a shot from the middle of the Roanoke zone at 13:49 to put the Bulls ahead for good, and Birmingham led 2-1 at the end of the frame, despite Roanoke outshooting the Bulls 14-8 in the period.
The Dawgs once again outshot the Bulls in the third period 12-6, but a goal by former Dawg Dylan Johnson on a tipped shot doubled Birmingham’s advantage to 3-1 at the 5:31 mark. A power play goal by Birmingham captain Mike Davis capped the scoring at 11:21, as the Dawgs couldn’t muster a comeback despite pulling the goaltender with three minutes remaining. Birmingham’s 4-1 win brought Roanoke’s five-game winning streak to an end.
Tom Aubrun made 22 stops on 26 shots faced for Roanoke, while Birmingham’s Hayden Stewart stopped 34-of-35 chances. Roanoke was 0-for-4 on the power play, while the Bulls went 1-for-5.
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