AHL Peoria Rivermen

Peoria Wins 4-3 in Overtime After Losing 3-1 Lead in Third Period

Published on February 18, 2006 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Peoria Rivermen News Release


Milwaukee, WI - The Peoria Rivermen defeated the Milwaukee Admirals 4-3 in overtime on Saturday afternoon at the Bradley Center in a game that was the mirror image of the last meeting between these teams back on Tuesday, December 27, 2005, again at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee. In that game just after Christmas, Milwaukee led Peoria by the score of 3-1 heading into the third period. The Rivermen then got two third-period goals off of the sticks of right wings Brendan Brooks and Mike Glumac to force overtime. The Admirals, however, quashed the Rivermen comeback bid just nine seconds into overtime, when left wing Timofei Shishkanov, now a member of the Rivermen, lit the lamp to win the game for Milwaukee. Saturday's Rivermen-Admirals match-up played out in much the same fashion, but the two teams were this time cast in opposite roles. The Peoria club held the 3-1 lead at the second intermission on this occasion, and Milwaukee was the squad to erase the two-goal third-period deficit only to lose in overtime.

Trailing 3-1 after two periods of play, Milwaukee pared the Peoria lead down to one goal early in the third frame. Left alone by the Peoria defense in the Rivermen zone, Admirals left winger Chris Durno walked down the left-wing wall with the puck and then passed it along the goalline to right wing Brandon Segal, who popped the puck up over the outstretched left leg pad of Peoria goaltender Chris Beckford-Tseu from in close. Segal's 16th score of the year made it 3-2 for the Rivermen 6:33 into the third session.

The Admirals then knotted the game at 3-3 about five minutes later. Skating the puck into the Rivermen end along the right wing, Milwaukee center Rich Peverley carried it down the boards with a Peoria defender in front of him. Using the Rivermen player as a screen, Peverley got off a wrist shot that flew into the upper right corner of the goal over Beckford-Tseu's left shoulder for Peverley's seventh marker of the season at 11:34 of the third period.

The two teams struggled against one another for the remainder of regulation, both of them failing to score another goal. Tied at 3-3 at the conclusion of the third period, the game moved to a five-minute sudden-death overtime session in which the teams would skate four on four.

Rivermen defenseman Jeff Woywitka started the game-winning play by springing center Trent Whitfield into the Admirals zone with a dandy outlet pass down the left wing. After collecting the puck, Whitfield feigned a shot attempt at the bottom of the left circle and then sent a backhanded pass back and to his right to winger Mike Glumac, who buried a shot from within the right circle to the stick side of Admirals puckstopper Michel Robinson with just 55 seconds remaining in overtime. Glumac's seventh game-winning tally of the year gave him 24 goals on the season and his team a 4-3 overtime victory.

With their first win in Milwaukee this season, the Rivermen reach the 30-victory plateau at 30-19-1-2. On the road, the skaters from Peoria now possess a record of 13-11-1-1. The Admirals, in comparison, now stand 35-14-5-1 on the year, and they have gone 20-5-2-0 at home.

The Rivermen jumped out to an early lead in this contest, scoring just 49 seconds into the game. On a shot from the left point in the Admirals zone by Peoria's 2006 AHL all-star defenseman Mike Mottau, right wing Brendan Brooks got his stick on it and directed the puck right into the breadbasket of Robinson. As a rebound came free right in front, Rivermen centerman Blake Evans came crashing into Robinson along with an Admirals defender, and Evans banged the puck into the goal before he and the Milwaukee player wiped out into Robinson. Evans' third goal in the last four tilts and 13th of the season put Peoria up 1-0.

The Admirals drew even with the Rivermen in the second period. Taking a pass off of the left-wing boards in the Peoria end from right winger Darren Haydar, Milwaukee center Simon Gamache received the puck at the left face-off dot, wheeled, and quickly wired the puck over the right shoulder of Beckford-Tseu to knot the score at 1-1 at the 10:10 mark of the middle frame. The goal was Gamache's seventh strike of the 2005-06 campaign.

The Rivermen regained the lead on a second-period power play. Stickhandling the puck along the top and then down the inner edge of the right circle in the Admirals zone, Peoria right wing Jon DiSalvatore walked in on Robinson before passing at the last second across the top of the crease to Whitfield, who was able to simply tap the puck into the goal behind Robinson to give the Rivermen a 2-1 advantage at 13:58 of the second. The power-play lamp-lighter was Whitfield's 17th tally of the season.

Peoria then went up 3-1 on a great play by Whitfield. After collecting the puck along the right-wing boards in the Rivermen end, Whitfield carried it all the way into the Admirals zone, dodging a few Milwaukee defenders along the way, before dishing it across the left circle to DiSalvatore. With a quick, short shot, DiSalvatore got the puck by Robinson's glove at the 16:33 mark of the second session to give the Rivermen a two-goal lead on his 14th goal of the season.

On the heels of their back-and-forth struggle on Saturday afternoon, the Rivermen and the Admirals will go at it once again on Sunday afternoon, only this time in Peoria and at a slightly later start time of 5:00 p.m. (CST).

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American Hockey League Stories from February 18, 2006


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