Rivermen Weekly
March 9, 2009 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Peoria Rivermen News Release
WEEK 22 IN REVIEW (4-0-0)
DAY DATE OPPONENT RESULT RIVERMEN GOALS RIVERMEN GOALIE (GA/SV)
Wed. 3/4 vs. Quad City 5-2 W Fletcher, Whitfield, Porter, Vishnevskiy, Paddock Manny Legace (1/12)
Chris Holt (1/13)
Fri. 3/6 vs. Chicago 4-2 W Talbot, Reaves, Corazzini, Whitfield Manny Legace (2/29)
Sat. 3/7 vs. Rockford 4-3 SOW Reaves, Richmond, Vishnevskiy Chris Holt (3/24)
Sun. 3/8 @ Chicago 3-2 W Fletcher, Vishnevskiy, Drazenovic Manny Legace (2/30)
vs. Quad City (3/4): The Peoria Rivermen scored three power-play goals, and another shorthanded, to beat the Quad City Flames 5-2 on Wednesday night at Carver Arena. Peoria moved to 7-1-0 against the Flames this season and extended their home win-streak to six over Quad City. Read More...
vs. Chicago (3/6): It only took 76 seconds for Julian Talbot and the Peoria Rivermen to take a lead they would never relinquish in a 4-2 win against the Chicago Wolves at Carver Arena on Friday night. Between the first and second periods, the Rivermen inducted Dr. Joe Rybar and current Wolves' head coach Don Granato into the Peoria Rivermen Hall of Fame. Read More...
vs. Rockford (3/7): The Peoria Rivermen took another step towards catching the pack in the West Division with a 4-3 shootout victory over the visiting Rockford IceHogs at Carver Arena. Nicholas Drazenovic, Carl Corazzini and Steve Regier all scored in the shootout as Chris Holt stopped all three IceHogs shots to earn the win. Read More...
@ Chicago (3/8): 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. Read More...
TEAM LEADERS
THIS SEASON THIS WEEK
POINTS Whitfield/Regier - 40 Fletcher - 5
GOALS Whitfield - 18 Vishnevskiy - 3
ASSISTS Regier - 23 Fletcher/Stastny - 3
POWER PLAY 53-for-330, 16.1% 5-for-17, 29.4%
PENALTY KILL 261-for-317, 82.3% 13-for-15, 86.6%
NEWS AND NOTES
Where they stand...With 16 games left to play, the Peoria Rivermen are right in the thick of things after rattling off four-straight wins this week. Their 68 points (33-29-1-1) have them situated just one point behind Chicago for the fourth and final playoff spot in the West Division. Rockford (70) and Houston (71) are within reach as well. Milwaukee (87) continues to lead the division while Iowa (64) Quad City (64) and San Antonio (56) have ground to make up.
Milestones...Trent Whitfield is scheduled to play in his 900th professional game on Friday in Grand Rapids. Yan Stastny recorded his 100th AHL point on Friday and is just two points shy of his 200th as a professional. Friday was also Carl Corazzini's 500th AHL game. Saturday was Curtis Fraser's 100th pro game and the 300th for Jonathan Filewich.
Connect Four...The Rivermen are currently involved in their first four-game winning streak of the season. They had won three consecutive games on four separate occasions but never the fourth.
Goals=Wins...Peoria's current four-game winning streak is courtesy of at least three goals in all four games. The only other time this season the Rivermen have scored at least three goals in four consecutive games was when they went 4-1-0 in five games between Nov. 8-15.
Role Reversal...One of the biggest offensive weeks of the season came in large part to the Rivermen defensive corps. Of the 16 goals Peoria scored over the past four games, six of them were scored by defenseman. Ivan Vishnevskiy had three goals and Justin Fletcher had two.
Ivan the Great...Rookie defenseman Ivan Vishnevskiy doubled his goal totals with three goals in his three games played this week, along with chipping in an assist on Sunday's game-winning goal. It took Vishnevskiy 52 games to score his first three goals of the season.
Follow the leader...Trent Whitfield's 18th goal of the season on Saturday night made him the new Rivermen leader in goals scored. It is the first time since October 25th (when Julian Talbot lead the team with four goals) that Steve Regier has not been the team's leading goal producer. Whitfield's assists on Sunday was his 40th point of the season and he is now tied with Regier in overall points.
North Country...The Rivermen head to Grand Rapids this week for a pair of games against the North Division. In 14 games, the Rivermen are 6-8-0 against their neighbors to the north. The only team they will face from the North for the rest of the season is Grand Rapids who they will see this weekend and again on April 11.
Working Overtime...Another shootout victory for Peoria ran their record to 9-2 when the game requires more than 60 minutes. Peoria is 3-1 in overtime and 6-1 in shootouts. Their .818 winning percentage in those games is best in the AHL.
Welcome Back Home...After starting the season with an 11-3-1 at Carver Arena, the Rivermen struggled going 1-9-1 over their next 11 home games. Since Feb. 18, the Rivermen have turned things back around by winning six of their last seven home games and five-straight heading into Sunday's matchup with Quad City.
Looking for history...The Rivermen have never won six consecutive home games since joining the American Hockey League prior to the 2005-06 season. The only other time they have reached four was Dec. 18, 2005 - Jan. 14, 2006.
Power Play...Since the longest power-play goal drought of the season (0-for-18) came to a close last week the Rivermen have gone 6-for-20 (30%). They finished the month of February with just four goals in 58 chances (6.9%).
Penalty Kill...The Rivermen have killed off 36 of the last 40 (90.0%) power plays against them and 55 of the last 61 (90.2%), dating back to Feb. 8. They lead the league in SHG with 15 (four better than Philadelphia, Hamilton, Hartford, Chicago, Worcester, Lake Erie and Iowa).
WEEK 23 PREVIEW
Grand Rapids Griffins
National Hockey League Parent Club Detroit Red Wings
Record 37-16-6-6
Standings Points (Relative to Rivermen) 86 (n/a)
NORTH Division Standing 2nd
Rivermen Record Against 2-1-0
Leading Scorer Darren Haydar (26g, 41a, 67pts)
Starting Goaltender Daniel Larsson (21-9-2, 2.63 GAA, .912 sv%)
AHL Power-Play Rank 3rd - 21.1%
AHL Penalty-Kill Rank 2nd - 86.8%
Quad City Flames
National Hockey League Parent Club Calgary Flames
Record 26-26-6-6
Standings Points (Relative to Rivermen) 64 (-4)
West Division Standing 7th
Rivermen Record Against 7-1-0
Leading Scorer Kyle Greentree (32g, 29a, 61pts)
Starting Goaltender Leland Irving (15-14-1, 2.37 GAA, .907 sv%)
AHL Power-Play Rank 19th - 16.3%
AHL Penalty-Kill Rank 12th - 84.0%
*All statistics as of 3/9/09
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
03/05/2009 Jim Jackson (D) DEL Loaned to Gwinnett (ECHL)
03/05/2009 Tomas Kana (LW) DEL Reassigned by St. Louis (NHL) to Alaska (ECHL)
03/04/2009 Andy Wozniewski (D) DEL Recalled from loan by St. Louis (NHL)
03/04/2009 Ben Bishop (G) DEL Recalled from loan by St. Louis (NHL)
03/04/2009 Chris Holt (G) ADD Returned on loan from St. Louis (NHL)
03/04/2009 Danny Richmond (D) ADD Loaned from St. Louis (NHL)
03/04/2009 Tyson Strachan (D) DEL Recalled from loan by St. Louis (NHL)
03/04/2009 Tyson Strachan (D) ADD Returned on loan from St. Louis (NHL)
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