Bad bounce ends Riders' win streak at 7

CEDAR RAPIDS - Sometimes you've gotta have puck luck, which the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders didn't last night.

The Riders hit two goal posts, then watched a fortuitous bounce off the back glass lead to Max Tardy's overtime goal as Tri-City ended their seven-game win streak, 3-2, before 3,308 fans at The Stable.

“Stuff like that happens sometimes, and you've got to battle through it,” said Riders defenseman Steven Hensley. “No, it didn't go our way tonight. But we could have played a little better teamwork-wise.”

Eric Robinson of the Riders hit the left goal post early in the first period with a wrist shot and defenseman Mac Bennett smacked what appeared to be the crossbar on a power-play point blast late in the second. Those near misses came back to haunt.

Tri-City, which ended Green Bay's 15-game win streak Friday night, tied the game on the man advantage with eight minutes to go. Hensley had given the RoughRiders (24-15-3, 51 points) a 2-1 lead with a goal 47 seconds into the third period.

Moments after Cedar Rapids' Cason Hohmann missed the net on a pure breakaway, Tri-City had a shot deflect off the glass behind the Riders net and back out in front to Tardy. He gathered the puck in the slot, deked Riders goalie Cody Campbell to the ice and lifted a backhander over him to win it with 1:20 left.

“You've got to look at the positives,” said Riders Coach Mark Carlson. “We continued our point streak. It would have been nice to get two, but we got one. I thought our guys worked hard, we had 40-plus shots on net. That's just the way it goes sometimes.”

Cedar Rapids outshot its opponent by a 41-26 margin, with Tri-City goalie Carsen Chubak a difference maker with several important stops. David Boehm had the RoughRiders' first goal, deflecting home a centering pass from Hohmann midway through the second.

Special teams also were critical in this one. Tri-City went 2-for-4 on the power play to Cedar Rapids' 0 for 6.

The RoughRiders play their next four games on the road, including two next weekend at Fargo.

"We've got a lot of room for improvement still," Hensley said. "We've just got to stay focused every game. I think tonight, after we'd won seven in a row, we maybe got a little ahead of ourselves. I think we can go far, and I think everyone is determined and feels the same way."

Here's the game boxscore:

http://www.pointstreak.com/stats/pro/boxscore.html?gameid=1048834