The Richmond Renegades almost let one get away last night. Fortunately for them, they were playing Twin City, a team they've dominated all season.

Despite allowing a two-goal lead to disappear with under nine minutes to go, the Renegades beat the Cyclones for the eighth time in 10 meetings.

Andre Gill's power-play goal 5:08 from the end allowed Richmond to escape with a 5-4 victory in front of 4,913 at the Coliseum.

"Certain teams, you just match up well against," Richmond coach Brian Goudie said.

"They got a weak one from the corner [to tie it], and those kind can be a deflater. Good teams find a way to overcome those kind of things."

After the Renegades took a 4-2 advantage on a rising slap shot from the point by Dan Vandermeer midway through the final period, the Cyclones scored twice in less than a minute to draw even and quiet the crowd.

Given a power-play opportunity shortly thereafter, Richmond scored the game-winner when Gill redirected a shot from the top of the circle by Vandermeer for his 27th goal.

"Vandy made a nice shot," said Gill. "All I had to do was put my stick on the ice. Sometimes, you've got to pull out squeakers like that and take care of home ice."

The Renegades survived a final surge by Twin City, which had a 6-on-4 advantage for the final 1:10. Goaltender Jay Chrapala denied Taylor Hustead on a last-second shot in close to pick up his second win in as many starts.

The win enabled Richmond (23-19-2) to take sole possession of third place, two points ahead of Fayetteville (19-17-8) and Columbus (20-18-6) with eight games left in the regular season.

SECOND-PERIOD OUTBURST: Trailing 1-0 after one frame, the Renegades pulled even on a power-play goal by Justin Joy, who redirected a pass from Drew Madeiros at 6:28.

After Twin City regained the lead on a power-play strike by former Renegade Brady Heintz, Richmond scored twice in 41 seconds to take a 3-2 edge into the second intermission.

Madeiros chipped the rebound of a blast by Mike Owens over goalie Adam Gergosian to tie it, and Trevor Karasiewicz capitalized on a turnover to beat Gergosian with a low wrist shot from the hashmarks at 15:27.

UP IN ARMS: The game threatened to get ouf of hand briefly midway through the opening period, thanks to some antics by Twin City's Matt Puntureri.

Coming out of the penalty box, Puntureri went straight after Vandermeer and tried to slam him into the boards in front of Richmond's bench. That prompted several Renegades to go after Puntureri, who wasn't supposed to fight because he was wearing a full visor.

For some reason, referee Joseph Sullivan didn't penalize Puntureri but sent two other players - one from each team - to the box.

FRIDAY NIGHT FIGHTS: For a change, there were some fisticuffs late in the second period. Both Dennis Sicard and Marlon Joseph of the Renegades were clear winners during the short bouts.

Joseph, in particular, landed a number of blows to Joe Pelle, making his debut in the Southern Professional Hockey League. Pelle, who went down and made the mistake of getting back up, was pounded by Joseph, playing his first game at the Coliseum after joining the club during its five-game road trip.

BACK TO NORMAL: Defenseman Clay Lewis (dislocated shoulder) will come off the 30-day, injured-reserve list early next week and be eligible for next weekend's two-game series in Jacksonville. Forward Donald Melnyk, who missed his third game last night to be on hand for the birth of his first child earlier this week, is expected to return Tuesday, Goudie said.

Those two would give the Renegades a full roster of 18.

Twin City ------------------------- 1
Richmond ------------------------- 0

1

2 - 4

3

2 - 5

First period - 1, Twin City, Hustead 21 (Falco, Cassells), 4:44. Penalties - Sirois, TC (hooking), 5:33; Puntureri, TC (unsportsmanlike conduct), 7:54; Heintz, TC (charging), 10:00; Joy, Rich (roughing), 10:00; Hickman, Rich (tripping), 14:52; Moore, TC (hooking), 16:17; Norris, Rich (hooking), 17:36; Cassells, TC (hooking), 19:07.

Second period - 2, Richmond, Joy 12 (Madeiros, Oke), 6:28 (pp). 3, Twin City, Heintz 7 (Puntureri, Hager), 8:28 (pp). 4, Richmond, Madeiros 13 (Owens, Joy), 14:46. 5, Richmond, Karasiewicz 8 (Oke, Vandermeer), 15:27. Penalties - Falco, TC (hooking), 5:03; Norris, Rich (interference), 7:01; Walsh, TC, double minor (high-sticking), 10:06; Madeiros, Rich (slashing), 16:24; Sicard, Rich, major (fighting), 17:57; Obelnicki, TC, major (fighting), 17:57; Joseph, Rich, major (fighting), 18:34; Pelle, TC, major (fighting), 18:34.

Third period - 6, Richmond, Vandermeer 11 (Gill, Needham), 9:38. 7, Twin City, Hustead 22 (Moore), 11:24. 8, Twin City, Sirois 25, 12:06. 9, Richmond, Gill 27 (Vandermeer, Oke), 14:52 (pp). Penalties - Gurskis, TC (hooking), 7:32; Heintz, TC (tripping), 13:56; Karasiewicz, Rich (hooking), 18:20.

Shots on goal - Twin City 10-7-10 - 28. Richmond 11-19-7 - 37. Power-play opportunities - Twin City 1 of 5; Richmond 2 of 9. Goalies - Twin City: Gergosian 6-7-0 (37 shots-32 saves), Richmond: Chrapala 2-0-0 (28-24). Referee: Joseph Sullivan. A - 4,913.