Rivermen Fall 6-5 in Back-and-Forth Affair in Johnstown
November 12, 2004 - ECHL (ECHL)
Peoria Rivermen News Release
Peoria, Ill. - Defense was not the order on Friday night in Johnstown, Pa. It was a high-scoring, back-and-forth affair and the Peoria Rivermen tied the game three times but could never grab the lead, falling to the rival Johnstown Chiefs 6-5 in front of 3,351 at the Cambria County War Memorial Arena.
The Chiefs scored for the final time with 1:22 left in regulation. Jean Desrochers took a pass from Dmitri Tarabrin, breaking in on a 2-on-1 rush and snapping the puck underneath the left arm of Rivermen goaltender Alfie Michaud and inside the right goal post for his fourth tally of the season.
Peoria had tied the game 5-5 with two goals in a 1:19 span. Justin Maiser snapped in his second professional goal from the left side of the low shot at 15:08 on a feed from Scott Turner, who took a pass from Troy Riddle at the bottom of the right face-off circle. Riddle then tied the game with his second tally of the game and third of the season at 16:27 with a snap shot from alone in front of the Johnstown goal after Trevor Johnson intercepted a Chiefs' outlet feed and gave him the puck.
Johnstown took a 5-3 lead in the first half of the final period, snapping home two goals of its own in a 1:52 span. Steve Hildenbrand tipped his third goal of the season down and past Michaud at 7:51 from the low slot on a P.L. Courchesne shot from the right point. Shawn Mather then gave the Chiefs' their second two-goal advantage of the evening, taking a feed at the center red line and on a clean breakaway from there beat Michaud with a roof shot into the upper right corner from in close.
Peoria (2-2-2, 6 points) fell to 0-1-1 on the road in the first game of five straight away from home over nine days. Johnstown (3-0-5, 11 points) improved to 3-0-3 at home, scoring five goals for the first time this season; the Chiefs were averaging 2.71 goals per game through seven games coming into the contest.
Michaud (1-2-1) turned away 22 of 28 shots in the loss, while Johnstown's David Currie (3-0-3) stopped 24 of 29 chances in the victory.
The Chiefs opened the scoring at 3:37 of the first period. Mather was first to a loose puck behind the Peoria goal and fed a breaking Hildenbrand, who came down the right wing uncontested and roofed the puck over Michaud before he even turned to face the play. It was Hildenbrand's second goal of the season.
Peoria tied it up at 9:16 of the first. Colin Hemingway stole a Johnstown clearing attempt in the right face-off circle and fed a trailing Riddle, who maneuvered to the front of the goal and let a quick snap shot go. The shot appeared to go in but actually hit the right goal post and popped in behind Currie, where Riddle easily tucked in his second tally of the year.
Johnstown took a 2-1 lead just 1:12 later. Rookie Joe Tallari took a pass from Desrochers, broke in on right wing, cut in underneath the defense from the face-off circle and chipped his second goal of the season inside the left goal post as he was being tripped at the top of the gal crease.
The Chiefs made it 3-1 on a 5-on-3 power play with five minutes left in the first. David Bowman sent a cross-ice pass to Courchesne at the top of the right face-off circle for a one-time slap shot into near upper right corner. It was Courchesne's second goal of the season.
The Rivermen got back within one goal at 17:44 of the first period on the power play. Johnson took a low slap shot from the center point that Currie stopped, but Randy Rowe was on the left post to scoop up the rebound off Currie's right pad and roof his second tally of the season and in as many games.
On a clean breakaway from center ice, Evgeny Lazarev was hugged down to the ice by veteran Rivermen defenseman Chris Bogas and was awarded a penalty shot at 9:14 in the second session. Lazarev maneuvered in straightaway but the puck slipped off of his stick just as he got to the top of the Peoria goal crease. It was the third penalty shot taken in the ECHL this season.
With the bullet dodged, the Rivermen took advantage on their second power play of the second period. After taking a pass from Hemingway, Brian McCullough chipped his third of the season over Currie from just off the right goal post at 12:02.
Tomorrow night - Saturday, November 13, the Rivermen and the Chiefs face off again in the second of two in a row between clubs. Game time is 6:00 p.m. CT at the Cambria County War Memorial.
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