Cedar Rapids RoughRiders rebound with 3-1 Game 3 win at Bloomington

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - One way or another, the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders will indeed have another home game this season.

They ensured that Friday night with a 3-1 win over the Bloomington Thunder in Game 3 of this best-of-5 United States Hockey League playoff series.

Game 4 is back here at U.S. Cellular Coliseum at 3 p.m. Sunday. Win that, and the Riders move on to the Eastern Conference finals, with the first game of that at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena.

Even if Cedar Rapids loses Game 4, a deciding Game 5 would be Tuesday night at The Stable.

'We were just focused on one game here, trying to get the victory,” said Riders Coach Mark Carlson. 'Fortunately, we were able to find a way to get the win.”

'We stuck to our game plan tonight,” said Riders defenseman Mitch Reinke. 'We took care of the little things, the details, and that was important.”

Reinke, Cal Burke and Ross Colton had goals in this one, Colton's an empty netter with 14 seconds left. Goaltender Ben Blacker was very good in making 28 saves, 23 of those in the final two periods.

This was a different, much tighter game than the first two in this series last weekend in Cedar Rapids. The RoughRiders won the opener handily, 7-3, with Bloomington following suit the next night, 7-2.

'Our defense was prepared,” Burke said.

'I just thought we played a smarter game,” Carlson said. 'We didn't look back (at Game 2) at all. Bottom line for me was we just played smarter defensively.”

The Amazing Bloomington Power Play, as you could label it, struck again in the first period and gave the Thunder the game's first goal.

Defenseman Brogan Rafferty let loose with a shot straight on at the point that went through traffic and beat Blacker over his glove. Jake Slaker and Blake Gober had the assists at 16:35.

It continued a series pattern in which the USHL's top power play in the regular season continued its domination of the regular season's top penalty kill. Bloomington had two power-play goals in last weekend's Game 1 and added three more in Game 2.

This success made it a stunning 6 for 8 in the series. Cedar Rapids did get what certainly had to be a mental lift early in the second period by killing off Colton's minor penalty for high-sticking.

'I liked our penalty kill tonight, actually,” Carlson said.

Just 1:01 after Rafferty's goal, C.R. defenseman Reinke tied it at 1-1 with a right point shot through traffic that sneaked through Bloomington goalie Hayden Lavigne after ticking off a Bloomington defender in front. Jacob Hayhurst (who won a faceoff in the Bloomington zone) and Will Garin got the assists.

Reinke was instrumental in the RoughRiders' second goal as well. Midway through the second period, Burke burst down left wing after a Bloomington turnover and tried a centering feed that failed to connect with teammate Matt Filipe in the slot.

The puck deflected off Filipe's stick, then the boards and to Reinke at the right point. He faked a shot, skated in a few feet and threw a puck at the net that Burke neatly tipped home for a 2-1 Riders lead after two periods.

'I had just hopped over the boards (on a player change),” Reinke said. 'The puck came right to me at the right point. I skated in ... just tried to put a hard, low shot on net. Cal was right there to tip it in.”

Bloomington applied lots of pressure in the third period but never got the tying goal. With Lavigne off for an extra attacker, which actually made it 5 on 5 because of a penalty, Burke eventually skated into open ice with the puck to begin a 3-on-1 break, with Colton scoring on a rebound, after an initial shot was stopped by a Thunder defenseman.

Bloomington suffered a tough injury loss in the first period when forward Tarek Baker - the Thunder's leading scorer in the regular season - was nailed in front of the net with a shot from a teammate in the ankle/foot area. He went down immediately, had to be helped off the ice and did not return.