Rivermen Doubled Up in Houston 6-3
March 30, 2007 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Peoria Rivermen News Release
Houston . (March 30, 2007) - The Peoria Rivermen could not overcome the early three-goal deficit, despite outshooting the Houston Aeros 40-13 in the final two frames, losing 6-3 in front of 6,312 at the Toyota Center.
The 50 shots that the Rivermen (34-29-2-6, 76 pts) posted in tonight's tilt was the second most that they have tallied in a game this year. Surprisingly, Peoria is only 2-8-0-0 when posting 38 or more shots on net.
Houston (25-37-3-6, 59 pts) opened the scoring at 7:30 of the first frame on center Jason Morgan's 10 th tally of the year. From the left-wing corner, right wing Mattias Weinhandl sent a pass to the top of the left face-off circle for defenseman John Scott, who ripped a one-timer that was stopped by Rivermen goaltender Chris Beckford-Tseu. The rebound kicked out to the slot, where Morgan swatted the puck past Beckford-Tseu on the blocker side.
Although the Aeros failed to score on a 1:15 two-man advantage, they did increase the lead to 2-0 at 11:58 of the opening period. After Peoria failed to clear the zone, right wing Danny Irmen skated into the slot with the puck and then snapped a shot on net that was saved by Beckford-Tseu. The rebound dropped to the stick of left wing Peter Olvecky along the right post, where he took a few whacks at the puck and finally, on his third try, poked it into the net for his ninth marker of the season.
Just before the first stanza ended, at 19:21, Houston added its third goal of the period. Defenseman Curtis Murphy held the puck in the zone at center point and fired a pass to right wing Matt Foy, who was parked at the left point. Beckford-Tseu had blocked the left side of the net with his right pad, but Foy was able to jam the puck underneath the goalie's leg for his team-leading 25th goal of the year.
The Rivermen notched their first goal of the game at 1:39 of the second session while on the power play. Defenseman Steve Wagner controlled the puck at the right point, where he dished a pass to left wing Michal Birner located at the right face-off dot. Birner snapped a shot that beat Houston netminder Dieter Kochan on his stick side. The goal was Birner's 11th of the 2006-07 campaign.
The Aeros regained their three-goal lead just 1:16 later on the man advantage, as Foy registered his second marker of the contest. From the right face-off circle, defenseman Erik Reitz wound-up as if to shoot, then found Foy all alone at the bottom of the left face-off circle, where he simply tapped the puck behind new Rivermen netminder Marek Schwarz, who replaced Beckford-Tseu at the beginning of the second period. It was only the seventh power play goal in the last 73 opportunities for Houston.
Peoria made the game 4-2 on center Yan Stastny's 11 th tally of the year and first point in his last seven games coming at 15:26 of the middle frame. Right wing Ryan MacMurchy walked into the Houston zone and once he reached the high slot, dropped the puck back to Stastny, who launched a rocket into the top right corner of the net.
The Rivermen got to within one at 17:38 of the final session while Schwarz was pulled and Peoria was on a 5-on-3 power play. After a face-off win, Glumac blasted a shot on net that was initially saved by Kochan, but the puck bounced to right wing Jon DiSalvatore in the slot, where he poked it in for his 20 th goal of the season.
Unfortunately, that was as close as Peoria came, as Houston capped off the scoring with two empty net tallies. The first coming at 18:40 of the third period after Morgan stole the puck from the Rivermen defense; Irmen picked it up and skated down the right-wing boards to deposit his 17 th goal of the season. The final goal of the game was recorded by Weinhandl at 19:39 of the last stanza.
The Rivermen, who fell to 14-16-1-4 on the road this season and remain two points behind the Iowa Stars for the final playoff spot in the West Division, will play their second of four straight games in Texas with a tilt on Saturday, March 31 in San Antonio. Game time is 7:00 p.m.
American Hockey League Stories from March 30, 2007
- Stars lose, remain two points ahead of Peoria - Iowa Chops
- Foy's two goals power Houston to win - Houston Aeros
- Rivermen Doubled Up in Houston 6-3 - Peoria Rivermen
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- Bulldogs oust Griffins - Hamilton Bulldogs
- Devils Fall to Pirates, 3-1 - Albany Devils
- Griffins Fall to Bulldogs, 4-1 - Grand Rapids Griffins
- Wolf Pack Beat Sound Tigers 5-2 - Bridgeport Islanders
- Moulson Tricks River Rats - Manchester Monarchs
- Norfolk Wins 5-1 - Adirondack Phantoms
- Bears blank Pens for 45th win Friday 3-0 - Hershey Bears
- Kings Assign Clarke To Manchester - Manchester Monarchs
- Crunch Announce Details of The UPS Store Customer Appreciation Night on April 4 - Syracuse Crunch
- Admirals Surpass Attendance Mark - Milwaukee Admirals
- Four-Goal second period propels Admirals past Philly - Norfolk Admirals
- Rochester Americans vs. Toronto Marlies - Rochester Americans
- April Fools "Game Of Mistakes" - Iowa Chops
- Kings Sign Quick To Multi-Year Contract - Manchester Monarchs
- Crunch Announce Details of Game-Worn Jersey Auction - Syracuse Crunch
- Columbus Recalls Lindstrom - Syracuse Crunch
- AHL Quick Hits - AHL
- Wolves give it the old college try - Chicago Wolves
- Moose Re-assign Ellis to Victoria - Manitoba Moose
- Aeros Gameday - Houston Aeros
- Bears begin huge weekend Friday in Wilkes-Barre - Hershey Bears
- Westlund recalled from Charlotte - Connecticut Whale
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