Gades ripped at home

Two teams were on the ice last night at the Coliseum, but only one of them resembled a playoff squad.

That would be the visiting Fayetteville FireAntz, who handed the Renegades their worst home loss of the season, whipping them 6-1 in front of a restless crowd of 4,595.

It was Fayetteville's third win over Richmond in as many games, and the Renegades' fifth loss in six outings overall.

None of which helps Richmond's fading postseason hopes. With four games left in the regular season, the Renegades (28-26-2) still have a shot at the Southern Professional Hockey League's four-team playoffs.

But Richmond can't afford any more games like this, where it was outhustled and outplayed at both ends in its first home game in a month.

After scoring first, the Renegades gave up six unanswered goals, two of them short-handed in an uninspired effort that left coach Brian Goudie, not surprisingly, in a foul mood.

"It seemed like everybody's calling it a year tonight," Goudie said. "This was the biggest game of the year. Everybody knew the implications. Everybody came out jumping at the start. After they got that late goal in the first period, we just came out a totally different team.

"Guys forgot how to play defense. It was embarrassing."

Deadlocked: The Renegades struck early when defenseman Nathan Oke broke a long scoreless drought.

Center Trevor Karasiewicz, Richmond's leading scorer, carried the puck in deep and slid a pass out to Oke, who was cruising alone down the slot.

Oke's wrister from the hashmarks found its way through the pads of goaltender Guy St. Vincent at 2:30 to put Richmond on top. It was Oke's first goal since early in the season.

But with the Renegades having trouble getting more shots at St. Vincent, the FireAntz (28-23-5) caught up late in the opening period during a power play.

Former Renegade Brett Needham did the honors, beating goalie Ryan Scott high to the glove side from the slot with 1:37 left in the period.

Three-goal outburst: The FireAntz put the game away with three goals in the second period, and all of them were the result of defensive breakdowns.

Matt Moreland gave Fayetteville a 2-1 edge 7:28 into the frame when he took a pass from Chris Leveille and skated unmolested down the slot, firing a wrist shot over Scott's shoulder for the go-ahead goal.

A short-handed score by Rob Sich at 16:30 made it 3-1, then Brett McConnachie capped a 2-on-1 break by faking Scott out of position for an easy one with 39.4 seconds to go.

A chorus of boos followed the Renegades off the ice for the second intermission.

It didn't get any better in the final period, when Needham and Sich (short-handed) put the finishing touches on the rout.

Leading after two: Richmond picked a bad time to lose its first game in regulation this season when leading after two periods, blowing a 4-3 advantage on Tuesday and losing to Fayetteville 5-4.

Richmond is 16-1-2 when leading after two. It was the last team in the SPHL to lose in regulation going into the final period with the lead.

On deck: The Renegades will take a rare Saturday off and return to Coliseum ice tomorrow afternoon (4:35) vs. Twin City.

Fayetteville ------------------------- 1 3 2 -- 6
Richmond ------------------------- 1 0 0 -- 1

First period -- 1, Richmond, Oke 2 (Karasiewicz, Zalba), 2:30. 2, Fayetteville, Needham 10 (Buccella, Olauson), 18:23 (pp). Penalties -- Joy, Rich (hooking), 11:34; Olauson, Fay (tripping), 13:34; Weibel, Rich (hooking), 17:39.

Second period -- 3, Fayetteville, Moreland 13 (Leveille, Sich), 7:28. 4, Fayetteville, Sich 34, 16:30 (sh). 5, Fayetteville, McConnachie 2 (Norrington), 19:11. Penalties -- Joy, Rich (cross-checking), :25; Leveille, Fay (roughing), 10:15; Buccella, Fay (interference), 15:17.

Third period -- 6, Fayetteville, Needham 11 (Buccella, Olauson), 2:32. 7, Fayetteville, Sich 35 (Moreland), 7:41 (sh). Penalties -- Hessler, Fay (hooking), 6:14; Kubaliak, Rich (hooking), 8:13; Cryer, Fay (hooking), 13:47; Oke, Rich, major-game misconduct (fighting), 17:18; Mi. Ruberto, Fay, major-game misconduct (fighting), 17:18.

Shots on goal -- Fayetteville 8-17-12--37; Richmond 6-12-16--34. Power-play opportunities -- Fayetteville 1 of 5, Richmond 0 of 4. Goalies -- Fayetteville: St Vincent 4-0-0 (34 shots-33 saves); Richmond: Scott 13-12-2 (37-31). Referee: Ryan Hersey. A -- 4,595.