KEARNEY, Neb. – The Tri-City Storm (2-3-2) fell short on Duck Dynasty night at the Viaero Event Center, taking a tie game into the third period but losing 7-4 to the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders (5-1-0).
Joel L’Esperance and Steven Haydon scored their first goals of the season for Tri-City in the loss, while Chase Berger and Austin Poganski also added tallies in the Storm’s highest offensive output of the season to date.
Jack Rowe opened the scoring for the RoughRiders just 3:58 into the game, beating Storm goaltender Jacob Johansson for the first of his two goals on the night. Cedar Rapids took a 1-0 lead into the locker room after the opening period.
The Storm got back into the game in the second however, getting goals from Berger and Poganski which gave them the lead.
Berger found the net for the second time this season at 2:54 of the middle frame, taking a pass from Ross Olsson to beat RoughRiders’ goalie Chris Birdsall. With the assist, Olsson picked up his first point in a Storm uniform against his former team.
Later while the Storm were shorthanded after a slashing call on Drew Mayer, Poganski and Ryan McMurphy found themselves on a rush. McMurphy put a pass right on Poganski’s stick and the forward wristed the puck into the top right corner of the net, beating Birdsall glove side for the Storm’s first shorthanded tally of the season.
That goal gave the Storm a 2-1 lead and lots of momentum to go with it. But a late penalty to Cutler Martin for holding gave Cedar Rapids a power play and the RoughRiders cashed in as Rowe tied the game with his second of the night.
The game didn’t stay knotted for long as Alec Marsh scored 1:22 into the final period and gave Cedar Rapids the lead for good.
The RoughRiders got five goals in the third to take over the game and control play.
L’Esperance found the back of the net for the first time this season on the Storm’s only power play opportunity later in the period.
Tri-City forward Steven Haydon also got in on the scoring, putting home his first goal as a member of the Storm with just over three minutes remaining in the game.
The Storm will hit the road next week for two games in Lincoln and Omaha on Friday and Saturday night. Tri-City returns home to take on the Waterloo Black Hawks on October 30 at the Viaero Event Center at 7:05 p.m.
Notes: The Storm scratched forwards Nick Hutchison, Thomas Aldworth, Joey DiBenedetto, Kyle Eastman and defenseman Garrett Cecere.…