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Peoria Rivermen

Rivermen Drop Ice Flyers, Clinch Weekend Series Sunday

January 27, 2019 - SPHL (SPHL)
Peoria Rivermen News Release


Pensacola, FL - The Peoria Rivermen scored three goals in the second period and held off a late Pensacola Ice Flyers charge to earn a 4-3 regulation win at the Pensacola Bay Center Sunday.The win, Peoria's eighth in their last nine games, lifts the Rivermen to 26-3-4 for the season and earns them five of a possible six standings points for the weekend trio of games in Pensacola.

The Rivermen and Ice Flyers traded goals in the first period as Pensacola opened the scoring on Jesse Kessler's unassisted tally 5:03 into the game before Peoria's Austin Vieth rifled a shot home from the right-wing circle of the Ice Flyers zone for a 1-1 tie at 12:46 of the stanza.

The Rivermen pulled ahead at 1:41 of the second period when Peoria winger Ben Blasko battled a puck free from the right corner of the Ice Flyers zone, and Vieth snapped it past Pensacola goaltender Brian Billett for a 2-1 lead 1:41 into the frame.

The Ice Flyers retied the game at two while on the power-play later in the second period. With Rivermen winger Joe Kalisz in the box for hooking, Ice Flyers center Robert Lepine carried into the left wing of the Rivermen zone, danced past a defender, and fired a shot past Peoria netminder Stephen Klein for a 2-2 score at 7:46 of the period.

The Rivermen took the lead for good with a goal late in the second period. Rivermen winger Beau Walker battled the puck out of the right corner of the Ice Flyers zone, dragged it to the low slot, and lost control. Peoria defenseman Kevin Patterson flew down the slot and chopped the puck past Billett for a 3-2 lead at 14:21 of the frame.

Peoria pushed their lead to a pair with another goal late in the second period. With Peoria on the power-play, Blasko carried over the middle of the Pensacola line and sniped a wrister past Billett for a 4-2 lead at 18:16 of the frame.

The Ice Flyers got back within a goal with a power-play tally near the midpoint of the third period. With Rivermen center Dean Yakura boxed for a high-sticking double-minor, Ice Flyers center Andrew Schmit picked up a loose puck in the left circle of the Rivermen zone and fired it over Klein's shoulder for a 4-3 score with 10:08 left in the game.

The Rivermen killed the second minor against Yakura, and all-told weathered a 19-shot third period from the Ice Flyers, including an extra-attacker sequence in the final minute to capture their first regulation win at the Bay Center in franchise history.

Klein earned the win in net, stopping a career-high 41 shots on 44 shots faced. With the win Klein improves to 14-3-1 on the season. The game also improved Klein's league-best goals-against average to 1.88 on the season.

Notes: With the win Peoria improves to 4-9-3 all time at the Pensacola Bay Center...Blasko tied a career-high with four points, and leads the SPHL scoring race with 39 points...Vieth's pair of goals gives him the league lead with 18 on the season...Vieth notched his first goal since January 11 at Evansville, and his first multi-goal outing since November 17...The Rivermen return to action with a three-game series in Macon, Georgia next Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, with all three games set to begin at 6:30 PM Central Time...The broadcast of each game can be heard, starting with the pregame show at 6:10 at http://mixlr.com/peoria-rivermen/

Group, single game, and season tickets for Peoria's 37th season of professional hockey presented by Midwest Orthopaedic Center are on sale at the Toyota Box Office in the Peoria Civic Center, or by phone at the Rivermen office, located at 201 S.W. Jefferson Street, or over the phone at (309) 676-1040. For the latest Rivermen news and notes, follow online at www.rivermen.net or through Facebook (www.facebook.com/PeoriaRivermen) - Twitter

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