AHL Peoria Rivermen

Rivermen Fall to Iowa 5-3 at Home

December 15, 2006 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Peoria Rivermen News Release


Peoria, IL (December 15, 2006) - Although the Peoria Rivermen outshot the Iowa Stars by a whopping 49-20, they were unable to come back from an early four-goal deficit and lost 5-3 Friday night, their first three-game losing streak of the season, in front of 3,572 at Carver Arena.

The 49 shots that the Rivermen took tonight is the second highest total this year; the highest came in a 3-1 loss at Rochester on October 20 in which Peoria tallied 51 shots. Tonight was the second straight game in which the Rivermen have at least doubled their opponent's in shot total. During the two-game span, Peoria is winning the shot battle 82-32 but have lost both contests.

Iowa (14-13-0-0, 28 pts), who snapped a season-worst, three-game losing streak and a five-game overall skid, recorded the first tally of the contest on forward Chris Conner's seventh goal of the season at 2:30 of the opening frame. The Stars poked the face-off behind a Peoria defenseman after an offside call, and Conner won the race to the puck at his blue line, where he found himself one-on-one with Peoria goaltender Chris Beckford-Tseu. Conner skated with the puck to the slot, where he sneaked it between the left post and Beckford-Tseu's right arm.

The Stars made the game 2-0 at 8:49 of the first period off a rebound. Center Joel Lundqvist attempted a wrap-around at the right post that was stopped by Beckford-Tseu; unfortunately for the Rivermen, the puck was not completely covered, and right wing Junior Lessard was in position to jam it into the net for his team-leading 10th marker of the year.

The Rivermen (13-9-1-2, 29 pts) got on the board on left wing Peter Sejna's fifth goal of the season at 17:11 of the first. Center Konstantin Zakharov skated down the left-wing boards into the corner, where he dumped it back to the left face-off dot. The puck was tipped by center Cam Keith to Sejna, who snapped a shot over the left shoulder of the Iowa netminder Tobias Stephan and into the top right corner of the net. It was Sejna's fifth goal of the season and first of two on the night.

Just 59 seconds later, Iowa regained the two-goal advantage on a short-handed marker. Lessard received a pass at the left point from defenseman Nicklas Grossman in the neutral zone and took off on a breakaway. Lessard skated down the left-wing boards, crossed in front of Beckford-Tseu at the top of the goal mouth, where Lessard flipped a backhand shot over the right shoulder of the Rivermen goalie for his second tally of the game and 11th of the season.

The intermission couldn't cool off the Stars, as they continued their onslaught of goals with a tally at 1:16 of the middle stanza. Right wing Vojtech Polak snuck in under the defense and roofed a shot past the new Rivermen netminder Marek Schwarz for his seventh marker of the 2006-07 campaign. Schwarz replaced Beckford-Tseu to start the second period.

Iowa increased their lead to 5-1 a minute and a half later at 2:41 of the second. Defenseman Mario Scalzo blasted a shot from the left point that pin-balled off two skates in front and finally found the stick of Lundqvist along the left post, where he was able to tuck the puck in behind Schwarz for ninth goal of the season.

Peoria cut the deficit to three at 11:36 of the second frame on the same combination as its first goal. Keith skated around the net from left-to-right and found Sejna in the right face-off circle, where he blasted a one-timer between the legs of Stephan for his second goal of the contest and sixth of the year. It is the first time this year that Sejna has recorded a multiple-goal game.

With Schwarz pulled from the net for the face-off in the offensive zone, the Rivermen were able to capitalize on the desperate move with a goal at 14:54 of the final period. Left wing Charles Linglet gathered the puck behind the net and as he was on the left side, chipped it at the back leg of Stephan that somehow found its way into the goal. The tally was Linglet's 13th of the season, which is tops on the team.

The Rivermen fell to 8-4-0-0 at home and play the second game of a three-home-game weekend tomorrow night vs. Grand Rapids Griffins. Game time is 7:00 p.m.

Check out the Peoria Rivermen Statistics



American Hockey League Stories from December 15, 2006


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