Seeing Curtis Dickson score two quick goals in the fourth quarter fired up Dane Dobbie.
“We give him the ball when he’s hot and he can score,” said Dobbie after scoring three times and adding two assists to lead the Calgary Roughnecks (5-3) to a thrilling 11-10 win over the Rochester Knighthawks (5-3) on Friday. “He’s fun to watch.”
Dickson and Jeff Shattler each scored twice in the fourth before Dobbie’s hat trick goal stood up as the game winner to the delight of the 9,207 boisterous fans in attendance at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Friday.
“The game’s never over until it’s over,” said Dobbie, who surpassed the 400-point plateau with his third point of the game, an assist on a goal by Shattler five minutes into the fourth. “That’s the way the NLL is. Teams go on runs. We went on our runs in the second and fourth quarters and luckily we pulled one out.”
Calgary trailed 9-6 after three quarters before Shattler scored twice to set the stage for the thrilling finish. Dickson then notched his two quick goals to put the Riggers up for the first time in the game.
“It’s absolutely awesome to see Dickson go off for two in a row in 19 seconds because he can go off for six or seven like he did last year in the playoffs,” said Dobbie, who drew on that energy to put the ’Necks up by a pair at 11:51 of the final frame.
Cody Jamieson scored with 58 seconds left in the game to pull Rochester within a goal, but that’s as close as the K-Hawks would get.
“We never quit,” said Dickson, who also chipped in with a pair of assists. “With our offence, we know we can put the balls in the net when we need to. It’s always nice to get a character win like that against a good team.”
Mike Poulin played extremely well in the Calgary net as he made 39 saves to backstop the Riggers to their third straight win.
Shattler also had an assist to finish with a three-point night, while Daryl Veltman (1g, 3a) Karsen Leung (1g, 1a), Garrett McIntosh (1g) and Curtis Manning (1g) also scored. Shawn Evans finished with four helpers.
Stephen Keogh led the way for Rochester with a hat trick and two assists, while Jamieson scored twice and set up five others. Joe Walters (2g, 2a), Johnny Powless (2g, 1a), Joel McCready (1g, 4a) and Dan Dawson (4a) also had multiple-point performances for the K-Hawks.
Rochester goalie Matt Vinc kept his team in the game with 32 saves on 43 shots.
“He’s the type of goalie you’ve got to keep shooting on until you score,” Dickson said. “He’s going to make those saves that he’s supposed to and he’s going to make some that he’s not even supposed to – some pretty amazing ones.”
Keogh opened the scoring when he bounced a shot past Poulin just past the three-minute mark of the first quarter before McIntosh replied for the Roughnecks at 6:02.
Rochester then went on a four-goal run as McCready, Powless, Jamieson and Walters scored to put the K-Hawks up 5-1 through one quarter of play.
Calgary ended Rochester’s run 25 seconds into the second quarter as Veltman fired a long-range shot past Vinc during a man advantage for the Riggers.
Shortly after Leung rang a heavy shot off the crossbar, the rookie forward converted on another great chance when he outwaited Vinc before picking the top corner at 7:37 of the second.
Then, with 1:57 to play in the first half, Dobbie pulled the ’Necks within a goal when he cut to the slot and caught Vinc by surprise with a behind-the-back beauty.
Dobbie tied the game with a power-play goal for Calgary early in the third quarter. Powless then put the visitors back up by a goal at 4:21 of the third before Manning scored a transition goal off the rush 32 seconds later to tie up the contest at 6-6.
Rochester answered back with three goals in a span of 73 seconds late in the third quarter before the ’Necks took control of the game in the fourth quarter.
The Roughnecks will wrap up their three-game homestand next Saturday (7 p.m.) when they host the Toronto Rock at the ’Dome.