Dubuque, IA – The Dubuque Fighting Saints (16-8-1-0, 33 pts) scored four times in the last two periods in a 5-3 win over the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders (14-6-1-2, 31 pts) on Saturday night.
Eetu Orpana's fourth goal of the season at 7:54 of the third period broke a 3-3 tie on Saturday, giving Dubuque a lead they did not surrender. Caden Dabrowski's outlet feed found Gavin Lock, who had a breakaway chance stopped on the rush up ice. Orpana trailed the play and finished the rebound to give the Saints their third lead of the game.
Melvin Ekman's Teddy Bear Toss goal opened the scoring for Dubuque just 1:12 into the game on Saturday, giving the Saints an early lead for the second-straight night. Later in the first, the Saints took two penalties in the span of less than a minute.
The RoughRiders scored on both power-play chances with goals separated by 1:05 to take a 2-1 lead into the second period.
Dubuque's power play answered in the second with Hayden Russell scoring early in the frame and Teddy Merrill scoring later in the second period. Russell's goal came from Cooper Conway, Russell's fifth of the season on Conway's second assist of the game.
Merrill scored his 13th, the second-most on the team, assisted by Michael Barron and Teo Besnier. Both Barron and Besnier logged a pair of assists in the win for Dubuque.
The power-play goals put the Saints in front 3-2 to begin the third period. Early in the third, the RoughRiders tied the game with Jackson Fox's fifth of the season. After Orpana's goal, the Finnish forward set up Dante Josefsson-Westling for his fifth goal on a rebound to extend the lead to two at 11:42 of the third.
Despite the early power-play goals for Cedar Rapids, the Fighting Saints killed the final four opportunities they faced. Goaltender Vojtech Hambálek made 18 saves in the victory, his 11th of the season for the Fighting Saints.
Dubuque ended its longest losing streak of the season with the win and will travel to Lincoln next weekend in the final two games before the USHL's holiday break.
