Day 100: Deja Vu All Over Again

Different location, same result for the Rovers.

Chicago, IL (AP)

The Rovers aren't married to the mob, but they sure have done a good job playing the bitch recently. The home-and-home series with the Capones is over, and the results weren't pretty for Rover fans. Two games and two shutout wins later, the Rovers suddenly find themselves more worried about keeping second place from Chicago than trying to get first place from the red-hot Mounties.

The Capones 3-0 whitewash on home ice was accentuated by a dominant faceoff performance and a superior display of passing. The Rovers held off the potent Chicago attack through most of two periods, but in the last minute of the second Adam Foote struck for a late powerplay goal that seemed to deflate the Baffin hopes. "That first goal was a real back-breaker", Stringer said. "We almost played two perfect road periods and then to give up one late, they rode the momentum in the third to the win".

Third period goals were added by Trent Hunter and Simon Gagne, allowing Dwayne Roloson's 31 save effort to stand up as his second consecutive shutout. Martin Gerber stopped 24 of 27 shots to take the loss. "I don't know what to say; they simply beat us up", a perplexed Stringer said of the two losses. "We've got to find a way, some combinations that can work against this lineup should we meet them again. We've left ourselves with a lot of work down the stretch to shore things up".

Not only do the two defeats represent the first time the team has lost consecutive games since the opening week of the season, but it drops them a full four points behind Kitchener for first, while the Capones have closed to within three for second place. All teams have 16 games remaining. The Rovers return home to host the StrapHangers, and are suddenly under the gun to answer a lot of questions in a short period of time.