Rivermen Join Playoff Race With 3-2 Win In Chicago
March 8, 2009 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Peoria Rivermen News Release
ROSEMONT, Ill. (March 8, 2009) - With 16 games to play in the regular season, the Peoria Rivermen are now just one point out of a potential playoff spot after defeating the Chicago Wolves 3-2 at Allstate Arena on Sunday. Nicholas Drazenovic's goal with 6:22 remaining in regulation broke a 2-2 tie and gave the Rivermen their fourth-straight win.
The winning streak is a season-long for the Rivermen (33-29-1-1, 68) who are now just a single point behind Chicago (33-30-2-1, 69) and two behind third-place Rockford.
Manny Legace turned aside 30 shots to pick up the win, including all 13 that he faced in the third period. His point-blank save on Brett Sterling in the dying seconds of a 5-on-3 advantage kept the scored tied at two just moments before Drazenovic backhanded home the game-winner.
For the third straight game, Ivan Vishnevskiy found the back of the net as he knotted the game at two at the 10:23 mark of the middle frame. At the tail-end of a Rivermen power play, Carl Corazzini found Vishnevskiy sneaking in from the left point and he one-timed a shot along the ice and through the legs of Ondrej Pavelec. It was the sixth goal of the season for the 20-year-old rookie.
Peoria struck first for the fourth consecutive game as Justin Fletcher opened the scoring at 9:19 of the first. Trent Whitfield won an offensive zone faceoff directly back to Fletcher at the top of the right circle and let him walk into a one-timer. The shot navigated itself through a maze of sticks and skates in front of the goal and slipped in five-home on Pavelec.
Both of Chicago's goals came within a 33 second span to close out the first period. Sterling, in his first game back in the lineup since Feb. 4, registered a power-play goal at 18:32 to tie the game at one. Joey Crabb's shot was blocked outside the crease but Sterling found the rebound and tucked it just under the arm of Legace. At 19:05, Clay Wilson pushed a shot just underneath the crossbar from the high-slot after a feed from Riley Holzapfel.
Shots were 20-19 for Peoria heading into the third period when Chicago started to make a strong push. Legace turned away shot after shot and it was Vishnevskiy who setup Drazenovic at 13:38 of the third. Jonathan Filewich got the puck to Vishnevskiy in the corner, who walked out of the corner and tried to jam one past Pavelec. His save created a rebound at the side of the goal and Drazenovic chipped it on the backhand.
It was the second game-winning goal of the season for Drazenovic. They have both come against Chicago with his penalty shot goal on Dec. 3 gave the Rivermen a 7-6 win over the Wolves.
The road trip continues on Friday in Grand Rapids as the Rivermen visit the Griffins for a two game series. The radio broadcast will be available on Hippie 101.1 FM and online at www.rivermen.net.
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