AHL Peoria Rivermen

Rivermen Force Overtime But Fall 4-3 to Aeros In a Shootout

Published on March 22, 2009 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Peoria Rivermen News Release


HOUSTON (March 22, 2009) -After facing a 3-1 deficit midway through the final period, the Rivermen stormed back to force overtime before falling 4-3 in an eight-round shootout to the Houston Aeros on Sunday at the Toyota Center. While the Rivermen are winless in their last three games, they have collected a single point in two of them to stay alone in third place of the West Division.

With 9:17 remaining in regulation and the Rivermen down by two, Trent Whitfield grabbed a Chris Porter rebound and put it home to bring Peoria within a goal. By cleaning up the trash, the Rivermen captain netted his team-leading 20th goal of the year. Then, at the 15:37 mark, Yan Stastny netted his second power-play goal of the day to tie the game at 3-3 on another rebound that he fought into the open net.

Houston (35-25-1-8) regained the momentum when they scored on their first three shootout attempts. But Nicholas Drazenovic, Julian Talbot and Steve Regier scored on the Rivermen's third, fourth and fifth shootout attempts to force sudden death. It was Krys Kolanos, though, who would end Peoria's hope for a second point by besting Manny Legace for a second time in the shootout that ended the game. Peoria (36-31-2-2) sits in third place in the West Division with 76 points - three behind Houston and two ahead of both Rockford and Chicago.

Houston took the first lead of the game at the 13:56 mark in the first period. Right winger Matt Beaudoin's original wrist shot was saved by Legace, but the Peoria netminder was unable to hold the rebound and the puck rolled into the right circle. Corey Locke was in the right place at the right time to bang home the loose puck past a sprawling Legace.

Peoria's special teams ended a couple of streaks in Sunday's second period. The Rivermen, who had not allowed a power play goal in their last 22 shorthanded opportunities, surrendered one to Marco Rosa only three minutes and 12 seconds into the middle frame. Rosa deflected a Brandon Rogers' shot to redirect the puck in mid-air past Legace to give Houston a 2-0 advantage.

But the Rivermen also broke a 0-for-18 power play slump when Stastny lifted the puck past Nolan Schaefer's glove at 12:32 to cut the Aeros' lead in half. Justin Fletcher ripped a slap shot from the red line that smacked off of the boards and onto a platter in the low slot for the Rivermen winger.

Houston made it a 3-1 game when Jesse Schultz slid a pass through the low slot to Locke who somehow slipped the puck between Legace's glove and the near post at 17:29. Locke's two goals were his 23rd and 24th (and his 69th and 70th points) of the season. Locke's second goal was also Houston's sixth five-on-three goal of the year.

Sunday's game featured three fights and 46 total penalty minutes. Houston outshot Peoria 29-22, but both teams scored twice on the power play.

Only nine games remain for the Rivermen in the regular season, their next will come on Tuesday at 7:05 p.m. at Iowa. The game will have a live radio broadcast available on Hippie 101.1FM as well as www.rivermen.net.

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American Hockey League Stories from March 22, 2009


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