AHL San Antonio Rampage

Rampage explode in Peoria, keep hold on third

Published on April 11, 2008 under American Hockey League (AHL)
San Antonio Rampage News Release


Peoria, Ill - The San Antonio Rampage exploded for five unanswered goals, four coming in the final period, to take a 5-2 triumph over the Peoria Rivermen at Carver Arena, packed with 6,005 fans.

The Rampage kept their clench on third-place in the West Division as Milwaukee defeated Houston, 3-2, in the first of three meetings between the two this weekend. The Rampage are tied with Milwaukee for the third spot, and two ahead of Houston. Rockford beat Chicago 3-2 as well, with all five goals in the game coming during the third period to stay put in second-place of the West.

The five-goal explosion began when Chris Durno came up with a huge goal - a mere prelude to the scoring wave soon to crash upon the Rivermen.

Durno gathered the rebound off the initial shot from Dylan Reese and forced the puck past Peoria netminder Hannu Toivonen with 6:03 left in the second frame to get the Rampage on the board. His marker trimmed the deficit to 2-1 and completely turned the tide.

Matt Murley netted the equalizer 34 seconds into the final period, his second-straight contest with a game-tying goal, just as the power play expired for the Rampage.

Tuesday night at Iowa, Murley scored with 34 seconds left to force sudden-death, where Mike Zigomanis won it for the Rampage. The marker put Murley at 59 points for the season, a career-high he would later improve on.

The Rampage's first lead of the night came when Jon DiSalvatore scored in the slot, burning the team he played for the previous two seasons in the process, compliments of a beautiful feed from Brendan Bell to set up a breakaway.

Bell picked up a rebound and blazed a pass from his own goal-line to a wide-open DiSalvatore at the Peoria blue-line. DiSalvatore snatched the feed, deked left and popped the puck over a fallen Toivonen for the 3-2 advantage at 5:54. DiSalvatore matched his career-high of 22 goals.

Zigomanis notched an insurance goal on a backdoor feed from Murley four minutes later. Murley led the club with 13 points (three goals, 10 assists) against Peoria this season. He gathered his 60th point overall of the season with his 40th assist, and needs just two more helpers to tie the team single-season record, set last year by Yanick Lehoux.

The Rampage tied a franchise-record with their fourth goal of the period with continued relentless activity.

Bill Thomas forced a turnover behind the Peoria cage while in pursuit, and Cam Paddock skipped the loose puck through the pipes, representing the fifth unanswered goal scored by the Rampage.

The comeback win was the ninth of the season for the Rampage when trailing after two periods, the most in the AHL. It was the fourth time this season the Rampage have scored four goals in a period, occurring three times in the final period. Durno netted eight goals in as many meetings with Peoria this season, tops on the team, and 11 points in all. Murley has 45 points (17 goals, 28 assists) in his last 50 games, including 11 multiple-point nights. Bryan Helmer picked up an assist on the Zigomanis goal, and is one shy of 500 points in his professional career. He is also tied for 10th in team history with 37 assists.

Peoria right wing Mike Glumac opened the scoring with a marker from the far edge of the right circle at 14:13 of the first period.

Peoria pushed ahead 2-0 with a long rebound lifted from the slot into the net by defenseman Tyson Strachan at 6:21 of the middle stanza. It was his first goal of the season, and his first in the American Hockey League.

The Rampage concluded the road portion of their schedule with 19 wins, a franchise-high. They return home to face the Quad City Flames at 7 p.m. Saturday in the first of a two-game set.

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American Hockey League Stories from April 11, 2008


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