Petrash with the last-minute winner for Riders

CEDAR RAPIDS - That's one way to tie your playoff series. Just not the textbook way.

'We all believed, the entire game,” Corey Petrash said Saturday night, after his goal with 52.5 seconds left gave the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders a 6-5 win over Dubuque in an unreal Game 2 of the USHL Eastern Conference semifinals.

Forgive RoughRiders fans, boys, if they didn't' share in your belief. Cedar Rapids built a 5-0 lead in the opening minute of the second period, blew it, but got saved when an open Petrash took a slot pass from teammate Andrew Gaus and beat goaltender Ben Johansson for the forehand winner.

Gaus was received in a late regular-season trade from Dubuque, by the way. The best-of-5 series heads to the tri-state region Friday night.

You can't imagine the script for Game 3 being any more unique than this.

'Got a great feed there from Gaus out front. Just put it in the net,” Petrash said in a chaotic locker room filled with loud music and players dancing. 'We just kept sticking to our systems. We stuck with it and got the win in the end.”

'Obviously (a loss) would have made it more difficult,” RoughRiders Coach Mark Carlson said. 'But we just have to take it one game at a time. We came into tonight and just wanted to win one hockey game. Let's win a hockey game. Forget about what all the people on the outside are telling you. Let's go win.”

Goals from Jacob Benson and Seamus Malone in the third period brought Dubuque all the way back from the seeming dead. It felt inevitable the Fighting Saints would get goal number six, though it never came.

This was the absolute antithesis of Friday's Game 1, in which both teams played well defensively and took no penalties. Dubuque won, 2-1, on a goal in the third.

'Last night, we weren't great, and we knew that,” Carlson said. 'We tried hard but didn't play as well as we needed to. I thought we played way, way better tonight. We've got to clean up a couple of things that are correctable.”

The RoughRiders produced so few offensive chances in Game 1 but appeared to go back to the basics in the first period. That meant getting pucks deep, trying to throw a lot of rubber on net and getting players to the 'dirty areas” (around the goal) for tips and rebounds.

What that meant was more shots on goal (19) in the opening 20 minutes than they had in 60 minutes Friday. It also meant a 4-0 lead.

Dylan McLaughlin jammed in a loose puck in front at the four-minute mark for C.R.'s first goal, then Andrew Oglevie was sprung free from the Dubuque blue line with a neat pass from Brennan Sanford, beating Fighting Saints goalie Kevin Reich forehand on the breakaway for a 2-0 edge at the 11:28 mark.

Dubuque's Karson Kuhlman, who had the game winner Friday night, took a five-minute major penalty for making head contact with RoughRiders goaltender Danny Tirone. Cedar Rapids ended up scoring three times on the seemingly endless power play for a five-goal lead.

Dylan Steman scored on a nifty redirect in front, then defenseman Mark Auk scored with six seconds left in the period. His point shot appeared to deflect off a Dubuque defenseman and past goalie Kevin Reich.

Andrew Poturalski made it 5-0 by hopping on a loose puck at the side of the net 33 seconds into the second. But the RoughRiders then did exactly what a team with a big lead shouldn't do - take penalties.

That eventually led to a 5-on-3 Dubuque penalty and goals from Alexx Privitera and Robby Darrar. Jared Privitera finished off an odd-man rush seconds later, and the Fighting Saints stunningly had three goals in exactly a minute to make it 5-3 and anyone's game.

RoughRiders Coach Mark Carlson was forced to call timeout after Jared Privitera's goal at 9:58 to try and calm his rattled team down.

RoughRiders forward Judd Peterson received a leg injury in the third period and did not return to action. His status moving forward is unknown.

Kevin Shand was a healthy scratch, so Cedar Rapids finished the game with only 10 guys up front. Ten was enough.

l Comments: (319) 398-8259; jeff.johnson@sourcemedia.net