Roy Blanks Breakers (2/27)

The Breakers hit the road to the Columbus Civic Center one final time with hopes to pull off an upset in a hostile environment against the River Dragons. Tyler Roy’s 31 save shutout combined with a pair of goals from bothTyler Barrow and Kyle Moore would be all the Dragons needed en route to a 4-0 victory. 

Period 1 couldn’t have started much quicker for Columbus. Just 34 seconds in, Kyle Moore cleaned up a loose puck on the doorstep in front of a sprawling Anton Borodkin and buried it to ignite the arena and put the home team up 1-0. The Breakers would settle in, generating some quality opportunities on Tyler Roy, but struggling to find the equalizer. Back and forth we went into the final five minutes, when at 16:32 Tyler Barrow finished a textbook 3-on-2 from Wickline and Storjohann to double the lead at 2-0. The Dragons led in shots 17-11 through the opening 20.

The middle frame has been the issue for Biloxi all season long, and certainly things didn’t look great when Al Rotiroti (Making Pro Debut) was booked for a high-stick just 70 seconds into period 2. However, a solid Breaker kill against the top ranked Dragon powerplay unit seemed to generate some momentum. Columbus began to scramble, taking 4 minor penalties and playing on their heels. The Breakers had some incredible chances but seemed to find everything but the net. At 15:58, Columbus struck again, with Kyle Moore slamming home his 2nd of the night off a cross-ice feed by Ryan Hunter to make it 3-0. Biloxi outshot Columbus 12-8 in the second.

Period 3 had a similar tempo to period 2, with not a whole lot of offense and some solid chances for both teams. The back half of the frame Columbus began to run away, controlling the possessions and clogging any sort of potential momentum for Biloxi. At 16:44, Tyler Barrow fired home his league-leading 33rd goal of the season under the blocker of Borodkin to cement the scoring at 4-0. The Dragons outshot the Breakers 37-31 in full time.

The River Dragons will travel to Biloxi tomorrow night for the season series finale at 7:00 CST inside the Mississippi Coast Coliseum.