The Cedar Rapids RoughRiders sure didn’t look like a team that pulled into the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena around 3:30 a.m. Saturday after Friday’s season-opening 6-3 win at Lincoln, Neb.

Fourteen hours later, the Riders took the ice for their home opener against a talented Sioux Falls team.

The Riders struck first, but Sioux Falls, led by its top line of C.J. Franklin, Zeb Knutson and former RoughRider Dennis Kravchenko, built a 5-2 lead in the third period and held on for a 5-4 victory before a crowd of 2,204 fans at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena.

Riders Coach Mark Carlson lauded the determination shown by Cedar Rapids after two goals in a 14-second stretch by Sioux Falls put his team in a 5-2 hole.

“I was definitely happy that we continued to battle,” Carlson said. “We stayed after it and stuck with it. In the end, we were one shot away from tying it.”

The deciding factor in the game was the play of Sioux Falls’ top line. The trio had 15 of the Stampede’s 34 shots, nine alone for Knutson.

“That line had the majority of their shots,” Carlson said. “We need to find a way to match a line like that. We should have the guys who are capable of doing that, but it didn’t happen tonight.”

Ironically, it was Sioux Falls’ fourth line that put the game out of reach. Keith Burchett made it 4-2 on a tip off a scramble in front of the net. Then 16 seconds later, Jake Ahlgren made a steal behind the net and fed Joe Schuldt in front for the 5-2 lead.

Alec Marsh, who scored a pair of goals for the Riders, said the team made too many mistakes, especially in its own zone.

"We’ve just got to be a little smarter,” he said. “I don’t think we played our smartest hockey in the d-zone and gave them too many opportunities. I think we can beat them the next time we play them.”

Cedar Rapids goaltender Chris Birdsall made several impressive saves, but couldn’t always cover for some of the defensive lapses. The Rider netminder wasn’t discouraged despite the outcome.

“They outplayed us a little bit, but we battled back and that was great to see,” he said. “We stayed tough in the moment (after falling behind 5-2). They had more scoring chances than we did, but they are a very good team and we didn’t quit.”

Marsh banged home his second goal of the night at the 5:14 mark of the third period. And when Andrew Poturalski netted a power play goal off a wild scramble in front at 11:11, it appeared the Riders might be able to pull off the comeback.

Sioux Falls (3-0) regained its composure and played solid defensive hockey the rest of the way. Cedar Rapids applied some pressure in the final 90 seconds after pulling Birdsall, but never had a strong scoring chance against Stampede goalie David Jacobson.

Marsh was happy with the way Cedar Rapids battled back in the third period, but said it should never have gotten to that point.

“You can’t come out and give up two quick ones, especially already being down by a goal going into the period,” he said. “I think we started moving the puck much better about midway through the second period. We were making some good plays in the offensive zone and cycled the puck pretty well.”

With the first weekend of a long season completed with a split, Carlson had a good feeling about his squad.

“I thought overall with the two games that it was a pretty good weekend for us,” he said. “I think our guys got a real good taste of what the USHL is about. We’ve got a lot to improve on, but I was proud of the way they competed.”

Cedar Rapids (1-1) plays only once next weekend, hosting Youngstown on Friday at 7:05 p.m.

SIOUX FALLS 5, CEDAR RAPIDS 4

Sioux Falls        0  3  2 - 5
Cedar Rapids    1  1  2 - 4

Scoring

Period 1
CR - Casey Jerry (Jason Kalinowski) 5:31

Period 2
SF - Zeb Knutson (C.J. Franklin, Dennis Kravchenko) 4:49
SF - Michael Buonincontri (Tony Calderone) 10:32
CR - Alec Marsh (Dylan McLaughlin) 15:41
SF - Dennis Kravchenko (unassisted) 18:30

Period 3
SF - Keith Burchett (Chad Duchesne, Peter Hand) 3:46
SF - Joe Schuldt (Jake Ahlgren) 4:00
CR - Alec Marsh (Andrew Oglevie) 5:14
CR - Andrew Poturalski (power play) (Charlie Curti) 11:11

Penalties

Period 1
No penalties

Period 2
CR - Clark Kuster - (Interference), 2 MIN, 8:14

Period 3
SF - R.J. Majkozak - (Fighting) (Major), 5 MIN, 2:55
CR - Jason Kalinowski - (Fighting) (Major), 5 MIN, 2:55
CR - Clark Kuster - (High Sticking), 2 MIN, 7:22
SF - Daniel Fritz - (Checking from Behind), 2 MIN, 10:11

A - 2,204