Peoria Comeback Effort Falls Short in Game Three
SPHL Peoria Rivermen

Peoria Comeback Effort Falls Short in Game Three

Published on May 6, 2026 under SPHL (SPHL)
Peoria Rivermen News Release


EVANSVILLE, IN - The Evansville Thunderbolts showed why they were undefeated on home ice in these playoffs as the Peoria Rivermen fell short of the sweep after a 2-1 loss to the Evansville Thunderbolts on Wednesday night. Mike Gelatt scored the only goal for the Rivermen while netminder Nick Latinovich made 27 saves on 29 Evansville shots. The Rivermen were outshot for the first time all postseason.

With the loss, the Rivermen are forced into a Game Four on Thursday, May 7, at 7:00 pm at the Ford Center. Peoria still leads the best-of-five series two games to one and can clinch the President's Cup with a win.

FIRST PERIOD

Evansville came out with speed and reckless abandon in the first period and outshot the Rivermen 10-6 in the opening 20 minutes. In fact, Peoria did not register their first shot on goal until just over eight minutes into the contest. But despite the disparity of shots and the Evansville scoring chances, Rivermen goaltender Nick Latinovich was square to every shot and held the game scoreless through the opening 20 minutes.

SECOND PERIOD

The middle frame was a back-and-forth affair as the Rivermen had several grade-A chances from point-blank range while on the power play, while the Thunderbolts came up empty on a penalty shot. Late in the second, the Thunderbolts broke through from a point-shot off a won face-off to take a lead 1-0. Then, less than a minute later, Evansville struck again off a rebound to extend their lead. Entering the third, the Rivermen faced their biggest deficit of the series, down 2-0.

THIRD PERIOD

The Rivermen got a fortunate hop less than two minutes into the third period as an Evansville ring-out took a favorable deflection off the glass and landed right onto the stick of Mike Gelatt in the right-wing corner. Gelatt took the puck right to the front of the net and back-handed a shot in from point-blank range to get the Rivermen on the board and trim the Thunderbolt lead to 2-1. The Rivermen pressured again for much of the third period and had some quality chances in the final minutes, but could not find the back of the net again to tie the game.

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