The Cedar Rapids RoughRiders might not win the Eastern Conference title in the USHL this season, but it won't be for lack of effort.

The RoughRiders got off to a slow start against Lincoln at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena Wednesday night, but they rallied for a 4-3 victory before 1,925 fans to stay within striking distance of first place.

Youngstown leads the Eastern Conference with a 37-14-5 record for 79 points. The RoughRiders are three points behind Youngstown with a 38-18-0 mark for 76 points with four games left in the regular season for both teams.

The RoughRiders trailed 3-1 after the first period Wednesday night, but Ben Blacker relieved Ryan Larkin in goal for the final two periods and the RoughRiders tightened their defense the rest of the way. Lincoln was able to launch only seven shots on goal in the second and third periods and Blacker did not let any of them get into the goal.

Cal Burke pulled Cedar Rapids within 3-2 in the second period with an assist from Ross Colton. Jiri Fronk tied the game 3-3 with a goal with 2:54 left in the second stanza with assists from Andrew Oglevie and Erik Foley.

Foley gave the RoughRiders a 4-3 lead at the 5:36 mark of the third period and the home team made it hold up. Oglevie and Aaron Thow collected assists on Foley's go-ahead goal.

The victory gave the RoughRiders a little more breathing room in second place in the Eastern Conference standings. They have a four-point lead over Muskegon and a five-point lead over Dubuque coming down the stretch. Youngstown, Cedar Rapids, Muskegon and Dubuque have all clinched playoff spots, but all four teams are jockeying for playoff positions.

There was a skirmish at the end of Wednesday's game with Clark Kuster of the RoughRiders and two Lincoln players penalized two minutes for roughing, even though the game was over. Cedar Rapids Coach Mark Carlson was assessed a two-minute penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct at the same time, according to the official USHL statistics for the game.

Cedar Rapids has a two-game road trip this weekend with games at Omaha Friday night and Tri-City Saturday night.

Lincoln       3  0  0 - 3
RoughRiders   1  2  1 - 4

LIN - Blagio Lerarjo (Patrick Polino, Cam Lee)
LIN - Jack Badini (Wyatt Kalynuk)
RR - Adam Gaudette (Ross Colton)
LIN - Patrick Lolino (power play) (Ryan Jones, Grant Jozefek)
RR - Cal Burke (Ross Colton)
RR - Jiri Fronk (Andrew Oglevie, Erik Foley)
RR - Erik Foley (Andrew Oglevie, Aaron Thow)