AHL Peoria Rivermen

Peoria Allows Two Power-play Goals in Loss

Published on April 7, 2006 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Peoria Rivermen News Release


Peoria, IL - The Peoria Rivermen suffered a 3-2 loss to the Chicago Wolves at home in Carver Arena on Friday evening, in large part due to the fact that Peoria's normally very stingy penalty-killing unit allowed two power-play markers to the Chicago squad.

The Rivermen brought into Friday's tilt not only one of the best overall penalty-killing units in the American Hockey League (AHL), but also one of the hottest. With a penalty-killing efficiency ratio of 85.12 percent, the Peoria squad stood fifth in the AHL in penalty killing before Friday's action. The Rivermen had also played through each of their last four games without allowing a power-play goal to their opposition, killing off a total of 28 consecutive shorthanded situations over that span. On Friday versus Chicago, however, Peoria's penalty killers had an off night and surrendered two power-play goals that doomed the Rivermen to defeat.

The Wolves used a power-play opportunity to take their first lead of this game at 2-1. Soon after the opening face-off of the second period and during a power play that had carried over from the first frame, Wolves right winger Justin Morrison got behind the Rivermen defense, and Chicago defenseman Travis Roche found him in the right circle with a nice feed that Morrison converted into a quick goal. Morrison's 22nd goal of the season came just 51 seconds into the second period.

The Wolves went up 3-1 about midway through the contest on another power play. On a stable cross-ice pass from the left face-off dot in the Peoria end to the one on the right side, Wolves left wing Ramzi Abid got off a hard one-timer that zipped up into the top right corner of the Rivermen cage. The man-advantage goal at the 12:53 mark of the middle frame was the 32nd overall tally of 2005-06 for Abid.

Their 3-2 loss on Friday dropped the Rivermen to an overall mark of 43-25-3-4 and to a home record of 23-12-0-2. Despite their set-back, the Rivermen clinched a spot in the 2005-06 Calder Cup Playoffs with the 3-2 overtime triumph of the Iowa Stars against the Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights on Friday in Omaha. With their win on Friday at Carver Arena, the Wolves improved to 34-30-3-8 on the season and to 16-14-1-7 on the road.

The Rivermen grabbed an early lead on this evening. Just 2:07 into the game, veteran Peoria center Gavin Morgan fired a shot on net from within the left circle that Chicago goaltender Michael Garnett partially blocked but allowed to dribble behind him. Although Garnett fell backward in an attempt to smother the puck with his body, the puck eventually trickled across the goalline to give the Rivermen a 1-0 advantage and Morgan 16 goals on the year.

The Wolves evened things up at 1-1 on a nice individual play. Taking possession of the puck near the left face-off dot in the Rivermen zone, Chicago right wing Scott Barney carried it in and stickhandled his way around a prone Peoria defender before wrapping the puck around Rivermen netminder Scott Reid and into the goal. Barney's nifty tally, his 28th strike of the campaign, occurred at the 14:39 mark of the opening frame.

Down 3-1 after two periods of play, the Rivermen got their offense going again in the third session. Peoria defenseman Mike Mottau started the scoring play by passing the puck from left to right across the Chicago zone, just inside the blueline, to his defense partner Tomas Mojzis. The Czech blueliner then drifted from the right point down to the top of the right circle, where he paused to unleash a slap shot that powered its' way into the back of the Chicago net for a 3-2 game in favor of the Wolves and eight goals on the year for Mojzis at 8:07 of the third period.

The Rivermen next travel to Omaha for the second of three games in three days this weekend. There they will take on the Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights on Saturday evening at 7:00 p.m. (CDT).

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American Hockey League Stories from April 7, 2006


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