AHL Peoria Rivermen

Peoria Scores Three in Third and Beat Iowa 4-0

Published on December 20, 2008 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Peoria Rivermen News Release


Des Moines, Iowa - After suffering back-to-back 2-1 losses, the Peoria Rivermen offense broke through against the Iowa Chops by scoring three goals in the third period to win 4-0 at Wells Fargo Arena on Saturday night. Ben Bishop made 15 saves to record the first shutout of his professional career and second by a Rivermen goalie over the past four games.

Josh Soares, Trent Whitfield and Chris Conner all scored within 4:52 of each other early in the third period to add insurance to Steve Regier's first period goal. It was the first time Peoria has scored more than three goals in a game since their 7-6 win over Chicago on Dec. 3.

Bishop made 13 of his 15 saves in the second period as the Rivermen limited the Chops to a single shot in both the first and the third periods. It was the second and third time in the past six games that the Rivermen have held their opponent to one shot in a frame.

The game's first goal came at 18:11 of the first period with Regier notching his 10th of the season. Trent Whitfield worked the puck up ice with Julian Talbot and Regier. Whitfield froze the defenders by faking a slapshot and then slid it behind Talbot and onto the stick of Regier who had the empty net to shoot at.

After a scoreless second period, the Rivermen jumped on J.P. Levasseur with a power-play goal at 4:43 of the third. Ivan Vishnevskiy's shot from the blue line was tipped out of the air by Soares for his seventh goal of the season. Conner also picked up an assist on the play.

A mere 47 seconds later it was Whitfield beating Levasseur with a slapshot over the glove. A long pass from T.J. Fast caught the Chops in a line change and sprung Whitfield in on the right side. He let go of a shot from the right circle and scored his seventh of the season.

Conner completed the scoring at 8:35 with another power-play goal. When Petteri Wirtanen was called for hooking at 7:58 it created a 35 second four-on-three advantage for Peoria. The Rivermen used their time out and scored just seconds after the four-on-three turned into a five-on-four. Jonas Junland and Steve Wagner worked the puck around the top of the circles before Junland dropped it for Conner in the right circle. His one-timer beat Levasseur on the blocker side for his team leading 11th of the season.

The Rivermen were two-for-seven on the power play while they held Iowa off the board on their five chances. It was the first win this season for the Rivermen against the Chops in four tries. The two teams will meet again on January 7 at Carver Arena.

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American Hockey League Stories from December 20, 2008


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