AHL Peoria Rivermen

Rivermen Squeak by Omaha 5-4 on the Road

Published on March 17, 2007 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Peoria Rivermen News Release


Omaha , NE - It appeared that the Peoria Rivermen were going to be down for the count after allowing two 5-on-3 power-play goals to the Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights early in the third; however, Peoria scored three unanswered tallies in 6:55 to win 5-4 in front of 3,598 at the Omaha Civic Auditorium.

The victory capped off a season-long seven-game road trip for the Rivermen in which they recorded a 2-4-0-1 record while Peoria remains undefeated in Omaha (9-0-0-0).

The Knights (39-22-4-1, 83 pts) opened the scoring, as right wing David Van der Gulik tallied his 13 th goal of the season at the 14-minute mark of the first frame. Van der Gulik quickly whipped a shot from the deep slot that was blocked by a Rivermen defenseman. Unfortunately, the puck kicked directly back to Van der Gulik's stick and deposited his second effort past Rivermen goaltender Chris Beckford-Tseu.

Peoria (33-24-2-5, 73 pts) tied the game 1-1 at 18:42 of the opening session. Right wing Jon DiSalvatore sent a pass to the hash marks just to the right of the slot, where center Trent Whitfield launched a one-timer just between the right post and left arm of the Omaha netminder Curtis McElhinney. The goal was Whitfield's 27th of the year, but first tally in his last five contests.

The Rivermen grabbed their first lead on their first power-play opportunity of the contest at 7:42 of the second stanza. Whitfield rushed into the Omaha zone with the puck and made a couple of nifty moves to try to get around a Knight defender in the slot, but it was poked away. Luckily, center Yan Stastny was in the right place at the right time, as the puck found his stick in the right face-off circle, where he flipped a shot over the left shoulder of McElhinney. It was Stastny's sixth goal with the Rivermen and 10th overall.

Just under two minutes later, Omaha re-tied the game on left wing Brandon Prust's 14 th tally of the 2006-07 campaign. Right wing Kris Chucko circled behind the net with the puck from right to left, finally snapping a shot from the right point. Prust, who was parked just to the right of Beckford-Tseu, redirected the shot between the legs of the Rivermen goalie.

The Knights scored their first of two 5-on-3 power play goals at 3:05 of the third period. While there was a delayed cross-checking call on Peoria defenseman Tomas Mojzis, right wing Carsen Germyn held the puck at the top of the left face-off circle and once he saw a small lane, fired a shot that slipped just inside the left post and right arm of Beckford-Tseu.

On the ensuing two-man advantage, Germyn potted his second power-play goal in just 24 seconds. Defenseman Chris Lee began the play in the right face-off circle, where he dished the puck to his defensive partner Brad Ference, who wound-up as if to shoot, but instead ripped a pass to Germyn stationed just to the left of Beckford-Tseu for the easy tap-in.

The Rivermen never gave up they tallied their first of three unanswered goals on right wing Kevin Croxton's second goal of the season at 9:02 of the final frame. DiSalvatore flicked a shot from the right face-off dot that ricocheted off of some traffic in front of McElhinney. The puck landed on the stick of Croxton in the slot, where he slammed it home.

While shorthanded, Peoria was able to tie the game 4-4 at 13:27 of the last period. Left wing Cam Keith controlled the puck off of a draw in the Rivermen zone and began a 3-on-2 the other way. Flying down the right wing boards, Keith abruptly stopped in the right face-off circle and slid a pass to defenseman Doug Lynch, who was streaking through the slot. Lynch tipped the puck over the outstretched leg of McElhinney for his first goal of the year.

The Rivermen notched the winning tally just 2:30 later on left wing Michal Birner's ninth marker of the season. Whitfield won the face-off just to the left of McElhinney and Birner, who had not recorded a point in his last seven contests, chipped the puck from the slot over the right shoulder of McElhinney.

The Rivermen, who fell to 14-13-1-3 on the road this season, will finally return home to face-off against the Manitoba Moose Sunday, March 18 at 4:00 p.m.

Check out the Peoria Rivermen Statistics

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American Hockey League Stories from March 17, 2007


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