Rivermen Falter in Alaska Again, Lose 5-2
November 1, 2003 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Peoria Rivermen News Release
Anchorage, Alaska (October 31, 2003) â Scoring first does not necessarily equate to finishing first, as the Peoria Rivermen lost 5-2 to the Alaska Aces before a crowd of 3,135 on Friday night at Sullivan Arena. The Rivermen have lost three in a row and both of their two meetings with the Aces.
The Rivermen owned a 1-0 lead with 4:32 left in the second period after a scoreless first. Center Alex Kim took a shot from the right circle that was stopped by Alaska's Dan Murphy. Jeff Zehr, though, followed up the Kim rebound off the right pad of Murphy, hammering the puck into the Aces goal along with Murphy and an Aces defenseman. It was Zehr's second tally of the season.
The Aces tied the game 1-1 with 1:35 left in the second on the power play. The Aces' Dave Csumrik fired a shot from just inside the blueline from straight away. The shot was tipped past Peoria's Levente Szuper by Alaska's Joe Talbot, who collected his second marker of the year.
Alaska would proceed to add three more unanswered goals in the first half of the third period for the victory.
It was the second night in a row Peoria gave up four unanswered goals to the Aces. The Rivermen took a 3-0 lead in Wednesday's game in Alaska before surrendering four tallies in the loss.
Peoria (2-3-1, 5 points) has dropped to eighth place in the nine-team Northern Division of the Eastern Conference with Trenton's victory in Charlotte. Alaska (4-1-0, 8 points) has won four in a row, all at home. The Aces are in a tie with the Idaho Steelheads for second place in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference.
Szuper, who did not get much help on the night, stopped 13 of 17 in his second loss (0-2-0) of the year. Murphy turned away 15 of 17 in his fourth win of the season (4-1-0).
Alaska took its first lead of the night 40 seconds into the third period. Mike Lee crashed the Peoria goal, following up a Wes Dorey rebound, and pushed the puck into the net for his second goal of the season.
The Aces pushed their lead to 3-1 at 5:11 of the third period. Mike Scott and Mark Smith broke out of the Alaska zone on a two-on-one break. Scott finished the two-on-one for his fourth tally of the year.
Alaska made it 4-1 on a Rivermen own goal at 9:50 of the third. After Scott was stopped by Szuper on a breakaway, Rivermen center Randy Rowe knocked the puck into his own goal with his skate on a back-checking effort.
The Rivermen got back within two at 12:36 of the third with Alaska on the power play. Captain Trevor Baker took a pass from defenseman Garry Toor and maneuvered into the Alaska zone on a breakaway, beating Murphy for his first tally of the season. It was the first shorthanded goal scored by Peoria this year.
But with less than a minute remaining, Chris Lipsett sealed the win for Alaska with an empty-net goal. The Rivermen face off against the Aces tomorrow night â Saturday, November 1 â in the third of three in a row between the clubs. Game time is 10:00 p.m. CT at Sullivan Arena.
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American Hockey League Stories from November 1, 2003
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