The Calgary Roughnecks broke their two-game losing streak with authority on Friday night, soundly defeating the Vancouver Stealth 13-8. The Roughnecks improve to 7-5 and are solidly in second place in the West Division while the Stealth continue to struggle, dropping to a division-worst 3-9.
Calgary reeled off eight unanswered goals to open the game and Vancouver was simply unable to climb back out of that hole.
Curtis Dickson contributed five of his seven points on the night during that eight goal run, scoring twice and adding three assists.
Dane Dobbie led the Roughnecks on the night, however, scoring four goals and assisting on four more. He remains on top of the NLL with 35 goals.
Roughnecks goaltender Mike Poulin turned aside 45 shots to earn the victory, shutting the Stealth out for the first 25 minutes and the last 10.
With 17 faceoff wins on the evening, Geoff Snider became the all-time NLL leader in that category, blowing past Jamie Hanford.
After some recent struggles, Lewis Ratcliff had a big night for Vancouver, scoring a hat trick and three assists.
The Roughnecks had Stealth goalie Tyler Richards solved, putting up seven goals on 13 shots and chasing him from the game twice. Backup goalie Matt Roik performed admirably in relief, however, making 30 saves on 36 shots, giving Vancouver’s offense a chance to make a late game run and get the Stealth back into striking distance in the second half.
Calgary also contributed to Vancouver’s comeback effort in the fourth quarter when defenseman Greg Harnett was assessed a five-minute major for spearing at the 2:15 mark. Vancouver were able to score twice on the ensuing power play, bringing themselves to within three. Poulin would shut the door for the remainder of the game, however, while Calgary would add two more goals—including an empty netter by Snider—to seal the deal.
The Roughnecks are back home to take on the Minnesota Swarm while Vancouver will host the Buffalo Bandits. Both games are on March 29.
