PEORIA, Ill. (November 5, 2009) - On a peculiar Thursday evening in Peoria in which the game was temporarily delayed by a first period power outage at Carver Arena, the San Antonio Rampage fell in a shootout to the Rivermen by a 5-4 score.Despite rallying back from a three-goal deficit and scoring with less than three minutes remaining in the contest to force overtime, the Rampage were only able to salvage one standings point after falling in the sixth round of their first shootout of the 2009-10 campaign.
Peoria center Nicholas Drazenovic opened the scoring in the game with an unassisted goal at the 4:41 mark of the first period. After a clearing pass was sent into the San Antonio zone, Drazenovic beat both Rampage defensemen to the puck near the left faceoff circle in the San Antonio zone and fired a shot inside the left post, beating Rampage netminder Al Montoya to provide Peoria with a 1-0 lead.
The Rivermen added to their lead at the 8:10 mark of first frame on the power play. After San Antonio defenseman Ryan Donally was whistled for a holding penalty, Peoria defenseman Jonas Junland found his defensive partner Brendan Bell on a pass along the inside of the blue line in the Rampage defensive zone. With traffic in front of the Rampage net, Bell fired a slap shot that San Antonio netminder Montoya never saw, as the Rampage defensemen failed to clear the front of the net.
To the surprise of both clubs and all fans in attendance, with 7:19 remaining in the first an arena lighting failure forced the referees to send the teams to their dressing rooms for a premature, 17 minute intermission while the technical difficulties were sorted out.
Once the lighting was restored, the game resumed. Upon the completion of the first period, both sides were provided with less than two minutes of rest before the second frame began.
Peoria was not phased by the irregular course of play as it added to its lead less than three minutes into the second period on a goal by center Julian Talbot in traffic in front of the San Antonio net. Rivermen right wing Aaron Palushaj and defenseman Steve Wagner were credited with assists on Talbot's goal at the 2:26 mark of the second.
San Antonio, who outshot Peoria by a 13-5 margin in the first, continued to pepper Peoria netminder Hannu Toivonen with shots in the second before eventually converting on a Sean Sullivan goal with 1:48 remaining in the second frame. Following a turnover in the Peoria zone, Rampage left wing Matt Beleskey gained control of the puck near the Rivermen net while Sullivan jumped into the play. Beleskey then found Sullivan in the slot before the Rampage blueliner backhanded the puck through the legs of Toivonen to close the deficit to 3-1.
Invigorated by Sullivan's goal, the Rampage scored again 38 seconds later at the 18:50 mark of the second on a tally by San Antonio center Joel Perrault. The play began with Rampage center Ryan Hollweg finding San Antonio left wing Jeff Hoggan along the left boards in the neutral zone. Hoggan then carried the puck along the boards into the Peoria zone before dishing to a trailing Perrault inside the Peoria blueline. Perrault quickly fired a snap shot from above the left faceoff circle that beat Toivonen low to the blocker side to bring San Antonio within one.
Just when the Rampage seemed to have clouded their own fortune with a too many men penalty past the midway point in the third, Perrault tied the game on San Antonio's second short-handed tally of the year. Intercepting a Peoria pass near the blueline, Perrault converted his second goal of the game on a breakaway, deking Toivonen to the left and finishing high to the glove side to tie the game at three goals apiece with under seven minutes remaining in the contest.
Nevertheless, the tie game did not stand for long as the Rivermen regained the lead on a Brett Sonne power-play goal just 43 seconds later. Following a failed clearing attempt by a San Antonio defenseman up the right boards, Peoria defenseman Steve Wagner prevented the puck from leaving the San Antonio zone and fired a slap shot on goal. The shot deflected off Montoya's pads to Palushaj, who then connected on a one-timer with Sonne to put Peoria up by a 4-3 score with under three minutes remaining.
However, the relentless San Antonio club refused to give in and tied the game once again with 2:15 remaining in the contest on a goal by Rampage right wing Viktor Tikhonov. After gaining control of the puck inside Peoria blueline, Sullivan found Tikhonov in the high slot, who then fired a slap shot past Toivonen to even the game at 4-4.
Neither team would score in the final two minutes, thus sending the matchup into overtime. In overtime, each club recorded two shots on goal, but Montoya and Toivonen each stood tall, forcing a shootout.
In the shootout, Peoria eventually prevailed by a 3-2 margin, receiving shootout goals from Palushaj, Talbot and Barry Tallackson. The lone goal scorers for San Antonio were Colin Long and Beleskey.
San Antonio outshot Peoria 42-26 in the contest that took two hours and fifty-five minutes to complete.
Toivonen made 38 saves on 42 Rampage shots for the victory, while Montoya turned away 21 of 25 Peoria shots in the loss.
In spite of the shootout loss, the Rampage earned a point in the West Division standings and remain in second place, only three points behind the first place Texas Stars.
The Rampage return to action on Saturday night when they travel to Houston for a 7:30 p.m. "Lone Star Faceoff" matchup against the Aeros at Toyota Center.
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