Rivermen topple Knights, 3-2, in shootout
March 26, 2006 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Peoria Rivermen News Release
Omaha, NE (March 25, 2006) - The Peoria Rivermen earned a hard-fought win over their division rival Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights by the score of 3-2 in a shootout on Saturday evening at the Omaha Civic Auditorium. Going into the contest, it seemed as though the game would be the closely contested battle that it turned out to be, considering the relative quality of the two teams involved. The Rivermen entered the game with 85 standings points and a firm grip on third place in the West Division of the Western Conference of the American Hockey League (AHL). The Ak-Sar-Ben Knights came into Saturday's affair right behind Peoria in fourth place in the Division with 76 points in the standings. So it came as no surprise that these two foes needed a shootout tournament to decide a winner in their match-up on Saturday in Omaha. Fortunately for the Rivermen, two newcomers to the team stepped up in the shootout to help the Peoria side prevail.
Right wing David Backes and goaltender Gregg Naumenko both came through with a clutch performance for their new Peoria teammates in the decisive shootout rounds on Saturday evening. For Backes, Saturday's game at Omaha marked just the second game of his professional career. A 2003 second round draft pick of the Rivermen parent club St. Louis Blues, Backes turned pro and signed a 25-game amateur tryout (ATO) contract with the Rivermen after recently completing his junior season at Minnesota State University-Mankato. He did not, however, allow his status as a rookie to prevent him from making a major contribution to the Rivermen win on Saturday. After missing on his first shootout attempt in the third round, Backes came up again in the eighth round and put a wrist shot past Omaha netminder Brent Krahn. When the next shooter for the Ak-Sar-Ben Knights missed on his attempt, Backes' shootout goal was rendered the game-winning shootout tally.
Naumenko made just his third appearance for the Rivermen on Saturday night when he replaced Chris Beckford-Tseu in goal for the shootout. A veteran in his seventh professional season, Naumenko signed an AHL standard player contract with Peoria on Monday, March 13. On Saturday evening in Omaha, he came off the bench for the shootout and performed admirably. Although the first two shooters for the Ak-Sar-Ben Knights did convert their attempts against him, Naumenko stopped each of the next six shootout attempts he faced to help Peoria win the shootout tournament 3-2 and the game by that same 3-2 score.
Through their first 70 games as a member of the AHL, the Rivermen have posted an overall record of 40-23-3-4. The club also currently owns a road record of 18-12-3-2. The Ak-Sar-Ben Knights, by comparison, are 33-26-2-9 after 70 games played this year. At home in Omaha, the club has fashioned a mark of 15-12-1-8.
The Rivermen got on the scoreboard first in this affair on the power play. After right winger Jon DiSalvatore took a shot from in close to the Ak-Sar-Ben Knights goal, the puck got lost in a scrum of players in front and then was suddenly spit back out of the grouping of players toward the left point. Skating onto the puck at the top of the left circle, Rivermen center Mike Zigomanis ripped the rubber disk into the top left corner of the Omaha goal for a 1-0 Peoria lead at the 2:34 mark of the opening period on his ninth tally of the season.
The Ak-Sar-Ben Knights evened things up at 1-1 with a man-advantage goal of their own. On a long shot from the right point in the Rivermen zone by Omaha defenseman Richie Regehr, the puck made its way through several players in front and dented the twine behind Peoria goaltender Chris Beckford-Tseu. Ak-Sar-Ben Knights center Craig MacDonald and left wing Eric Nystrom were ruled to have deflected the puck on its way in. So Omaha's power-play goal at 12:50 of the first was credited to Nystrom, his 15th strike of the year.
Just before the first frame ended, the Rivermen captured their second lead of the tilt. Peoria defenseman Aaron MacKenzie, from within his end of the ice, hit DiSalvatore at center ice with a nice lead-pass that sprung DiSalvatore in alone on Ak-Sar-Ben Knights goalie Brent Krahn. As DiSalvatore entered the slot area, he subtly shifted his shoulders in an attempt to get Krahn to commit to one direction and then sent a wrister past Krahn's blocker to put Peoria up 2-1 with just 16.5 seconds remaining in the first period. The breakaway marker upped DiSalvatore's season goal total to a nice, round 20.
Omaha stayed in the contest with the Peoria squad and eventually tied the score at 2-2. After receiving at the left point in the Rivermen zone a cross-ice pass along the blueline from defenseman Brett Palin, Ak-Sar-Ben Knights defenseman Zenith Komarniski fired off a long shot that sailed over Beckford-Tseu's right shoulder and into the top left corner of the cage. Komarniski's sixth goal of 2005-06 occurred at the 17:22 mark of the second session.
From that point on, both the Rivermen and the Ak-Sar-Ben Knights had several scoring chances, but neither squad was able to score another goal in regulation. The overtime period brought more of the same scoreless action, and the game ultimately moved to a shootout tournament to determine a winner. In the shootout, each team converted its first two attempts, as left wing Peter Sejna and Zigomanis scored for Peoria, and right wing Carsen Germyn and MacDonald tallied for Omaha. The next player to score in the shootout was Backes of the Rivermen, but not until the eighth round. When Ak-Sar-Ben Knights defenseman Mark Giordano then missed in the eighth round, the shootout and the game went to the Rivermen.
The Rivermen will now return to Peoria for a home game versus the Houston Aeros on Tuesday evening at 7:00 p.m. (CST) before heading out on a road-trip through San Antonio and Houston next weekend.
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