The Cedar Rapids RoughRiders have made several moves lately in an effort to improve their roster. However, there are some talented players who have been here from the beginning as well.

A pair of the newcomers came through offensively in a thrilling 3-2 shootout win over the Chicago Steel Friday night before 2,511 fans at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena.

Frederick Tiffels and Brennan Sanford each recorded their first goal as RoughRiders, but the real star of the night was a guy who has been here all season.

Goaltender Danny Tirone was outstanding between the pipes, turning away 30 of 32 shots in regulation and all three in the shootout to gain his 12th victory of the season.

All Tirone did was survive a pair of Chicago power plays in the third period and also stopped a pair of breakaway attempts to keep the RoughRiders (17-12-1, 35 points) in the game.

“Danny is showing real good mental toughness right now,” said RoughRiders Coach Mark Carlson. “He is really doing a nice job and competing hard. Most importantly, he is taking things day-by day and that is a great approach for him.”

Tirone credited his teammates for making his job a little easier. Aside from the breakaways, he didn’t have to face many shots with traffic in front of the net.

“The defense really let me see the puck,” he said. “The ones I didn’t see, they were getting down in front of and blocking. This was a real team victory tonight.”

Friday’s game saw both teams looking to open up the attack with several end-to-end rushes. After a scoreless first period, Chicago got on the board at the 9:28 mark of the second frame when Robbie Payne snapped off a shot from the left circle that went over Tirone’s shoulder for a 1-0 Steel lead.

It took the RoughRiders just 1:11 to get the equalizer. Sanford, playing just his sixth game with Cedar Rapids, tapped one in off a feed from Jason Kalinowski to tie the game.

Then it was Tiffels, in his Riders’ debut, tipping one home on a rebound past Chicago netminder Chris Nell at 18:15, putting Cedar Rapids up 2-1 after two periods.

Carlson was pleased to get offensive contributions from his newcomers.

“It was great to see that,” he said.  “It was nice to see Freddie get his first goal and Brennan get his first one. We got some real good depth there up front.”

The third period belonged to Tirone. Twice during the middle of the period, the Steel had power plays after minor penalties to defenseman Scott Moldenhauer. Disaster struck just after the Riders had killed the second penalty.

Cedar Rapids lost control of the puck in its own zone and Patrick Polino made the steal and put it past Tirone to tie the game at the 15:18 mark.

“That was a tough break for us there when they got that second one with the turnover,” Carlson said. “Those things happen. We didn’t make a big deal out of it and hung tough and found a way to get the job done there in the shootout.”

Both teams had good scoring chances in the final four minutes of regulation and in the five-minute overtime.

In the shootout, Tirone stopped Payne on the first attempt. Dylan Steman snuck one just behind Nell to give the Riders all they would need. Tirone stonewalled Robby Jackson and CJ Smith, sending his teammates over the boards to mob him in celebration of the much-needed win.

“This was a conference matchup for us, so it was big to get the two points,” Tirone said. “We let them back in the game to get a point, but we were fortunate to come away with the win and hopefully we can keep building off this win tonight.”

Cedar Rapids won’t have much time to savor the win with a Saturday road game against Omaha, which has the league’s most points with 52.

Carlson simply sees it as another challenge for a team that is now in fourth place, but just six points behind first-place Indiana in the Eastern Conference.

“We’re looking forward to seeing the whole team improve here moving forward,” he said. “We have a big challenge ahead against a good Omaha team.”

Chicago           0  1  1  0  0 – 2
Cedar Rapids    0  2  0  0  1 – 3

Second Period
CHI - Robbie Payne (Peter Tischke) 9:28
CR  - Brennan Sanford (Jason Kalinowski, Dylan McLaughlin) 10:39
CR  - Frederik Tiffels (Alec Marsh, Andrew Oglevie) 18:15

Third Period
CHI - Patrick Polino (unassisted) 15:18