Rivermen Nipped in a Shootout in Fresno 4-3
January 5, 2005 - ECHL (ECHL)
Peoria Rivermen News Release
Fresno, Ca. (January 4, 2005) â The Peoria Rivermen battled back from an early third-period, one-goal deficit to tie the game up and force extra time but fell in a shootout 4-3 to the Fresno Falcons in front of 3,858 on Tuesday night at the Save Mart Center on the campus of Fresno State University.
The setback halted Peoria's four-game winning streak, but the Rivermen remain unbeaten in regulation in their last five contests (4-0-1).
The Falcons tied the game up for the second time early in the third period on Paul Falco's second tally of the season. After taking a pass from Jan Sochor, Falco â on his right knee just off the right goal post â chipped the puck into the upper left corner past Rivermen goaltender Chris Beckford-Tseu.
Fresno took its first lead of the night, making it 3-2 just 1:58 later. After Jason Weaver's shot from the left side of the bottom of the right face-off circle was stopped by Beckford-Tseu, Derek Krestanovich went diving at the loose puck that was sitting underneath Beckford-Tseu's goal pad and stabbed in his 11th tally of the season.
The Rivermen tied the game back up on Tyler Rennette's second goal of the game. After Peoria won a face-off in the Fresno end in the right face-off circle, Chris Bogas tried to wrist a shot on net from the point. The shot deflected off a Fresno defender's leg and popped to Brian McCullough in the high slot. McCullough faked a shot and directed a pass to Rennette at the bottom of the right face-off circle for a snap shot in behind Fresno goaltender Jamie Hodson. It was Rennette's eighth goal of the season.
After a scoreless four-on-four overtime session with end-to-end action and two shots aside, the teams moved to a shootout, where Fresno received shootout tallies from Charles Simard, who was credited with the shootout winner, in the second round and Captain Dan Tessier in the third round. Peoria's Rennette, Reggie Stringer, McCullough and Scott Turner were unable to score on Hodson (6-3-0), who stopped 31 of 34 in regulation and overtime.
Peoria (11-13-4, 26 points), who dropped to 0-2 in shootouts on the year, fell to 5-8-2 on the road and 9-2-1 lifetime in the regular season against West Division opponents. The Rivermen are now 10-1-1 this season when scoring three or more goals in a game. Fresno (15-13-3, 33 points), who pushed their shootout record to 4-2-0, has won three in a row overall. The Falcons are 9-1-1 in their last 11 home games and improved to 10-6-2 overall at the Save Mart Center this season.
Beckford-Tseu (5-8-3) stopped 32 of 35 shots in regulation and overtime, while turning away two of three in the shootout.
After a scoreless first period, the Rivermen opened the scoring at 8:48 of the second session. McCullough broke up a Fresno outlet feed from its zone in the center-ice, face-off circle, popping the puck loose to Rennette. Rennette circled into the Fresno end down the middle of the ice, backed Hodson into the net and roofed the puck into the upper right corner. It was Rennette's seventh goal of the season.
Fresno tied the game 1-1 on the power play at 12:39 of the second. Simard, after taking a pass from Weaver at the left point, stickhandled into the low slot and lifted a backhand shot into the upper right corner. It was Simard's fifth tally of the year.
Peoria grabbed the lead back less than three minutes later on Stringer's fourth goal in the last two contests. After winning the battle for a loose puck in the right-wing corner, Turner circled out to the top of the face-off circle and slipped the puck to Stringer, who chipped the seventh goal of the year up off the arm of the Hodson and into the back of the net.
Turner, after being activated from the 30-day injured reserve, played in his first game since November 25 after undergoing sports hernia surgery.
Tomorrow night â Wednesday, January 5, Peoria travels south to San Diego to face off against the defending Brabham Cup Champion Gulls. Game time is 9:00 p.m. CT at the San Diego Sports.
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