AHL Peoria Rivermen

Rivermen Weekly

Published on October 12, 2009 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Peoria Rivermen News Release


WEEK 2 IN REVIEW (1-0-0)

DAY DATE OPPONENT RESULT RIVERMEN GOALS RIVERMEN GOALIE (GA/SV)

Fri. 10/9 vs. Milwaukee 4-3 SOW Lars Eller, Jonas Junland, Cam Paddock, (Nicholas Drazenovic) Ben Bishop (3/23)

vs. Milwaukee (10/9): A rematch of the top two West Division teams from last season ended in reverse order on Friday night as the Peoria Rivermen downed the Milwaukee Admirals, 4-3, in a shootout at Carver Arena. Ben Bishop made 23 saves in regulation, and stopped four of five shooters in the shootout, in his first regular season start since Feb. 22.

TEAM LEADERS

THIS SEASON THIS WEEK

POINTS Jonas Junland - 4 Lars Eller - 2

GOALS Jonas Junland - 3 Three players - 1

ASSISTS Four Players - 2 Five Players - 1

POWER PLAY 3-for-12, 25.0% 1-for-4, 25.0%

PENALTY KILL 12-for-15, 80.0% 3-for-4, 75.0%

NEWS AND NOTES

Easy Weekend...With Friday being the only game of the week for the Rivermen, it was the easiest week on the Rivermen schedule. It is the only time this season that they play just one game in a seven-day stretch and one of just two times (Nov. 7-8) when the Rivermen have both a Saturday and Sunday off.

Back-to-back...The Rivermen and Admirals will meet again on Wednesday. Neither team plays a game in between their most recent battle. Peoria will play the same opponent in back-to-back games 10 times but only three times at home (including this series). The only time the Rivermen see a team for three straight games is Oct. 17, 21, 24 against Rockford.

Working Overtime...Two of the first three games of the season for Peoria have gone to overtime. Last year, Peoria went past regulation a total of 15 times. They were 3-2 in overtime and an additional 6-4 in shootouts.

Déjà Vu...For the second consecutive season, the Rivermen have had both games No. 2 and 3 go into overtime. Last year Peoria dropped their second game of the year to Iowa 4-3 in OT while they picked up their first win the very next day with a 3-2 OT victory over Quad City. In Peoria's five seasons (including this year) in the American Hockey League, they have won their first game of the season in overtime three times.

Reversing the trend... Although the Rivermen have struggled with Milwaukee in their recent history, Peoria is 2-0-1 against the Admirals in their last three games. Despite the Rivermen's 2-5-1 record against the Admirals last season, the Rivermen beat the Admirals 4-3 on March 27 and lost 2-1 in a shootout on Apr. 8. The last four games between the long-time rivals have been decided by one goal dating back to Feb. 8. The last time there was a final differential of more than one goal was Jan. 3 when the Rivermen had the game-tying goal waved off in the final minutes and the Admirals scored an empty-netter with only seconds remaining for a 2-0 final score.

Get used to it... Tight games are a regular occurrence again this year with the Rivermen. An empty-net goal by the Griffins on opening night is the only reason why each of the first three games of the season have not been decided by a single goal. Last season, 59 of Peoria's 80 regular season games were decided by two goals or less and 36 of them were one-goal games. The Rivermen were an impressive 21-9-2-4 in one-goal contests.

Junland's Encore...After lighting the lamp twice last Sunday, Junland continued his scoring trend with a power-play goal on Friday. His three goals and four points lead the team and have him ranked fifth in points and first in goals, power-play goals (2) and shooting percentage (0.50) by defensemen.

Coming to America... Lars Eller's goal on Friday was the first of his career in North America. The Danish centerman was drafted by the Blues with the 13th overall pick in the 2007 draft and scored 12 goals in parts of the last two seasons while playing with Vastra Frolunda in the Swedish Elite League.

The King returns....D.J. King returned to Peoria this week where he played 105 games over parts of two seasons (2005-07) before sticking with the St. Louis Blues. The 6-foot-3, 230-pound enforcer is on a conditioning assignment following a thumb injury during the preseason. King has 23 fights in 89 career NHL games on top of his 41 bouts and 440 PIM in 176 AHL games.

Shaking off the rust...King was injured on opening night of the 2008-09 campaign and missed the entire season. Friday night was only his second game since April 6, 2008.

The stats count...Ben Bishops win on Friday was his first regular season win since Feb. 22 against Quad City which was also his last start. His only regular season action since that date was one period of work on March 14 against Detroit while playing with St. Louis.

Short trip...Tyson Strachan made a quick trip to St. Louis on Saturday. He was recalled by the Blues at 12:15 a.m. on Saturday and returned on loan to the Rivermen at 10:30 p.m. He was a healthy scratch during the Blues 2-1 loss to the L.A. Kings that night.

WEEK 3 PREVIEW

Milwaukee Admirals

National Hockey League Parent Club Nashville Predators

Record 1-0-0-1

Standings Points (Relative to Rivermen) 3 (-1)

West Division Standing 6th

Rivermen Record Against 1-0-0

Leading Scorer Cal O'Reilly (0g, 3a, 3pts)

Starting Goaltender Mark Dekanich (1-0-1, 2.41 GAA, .907 sv%)

AHL Power-Play Rank t-6th - 25.0%

AHL Penalty-Kill Rank 12th - 85.7%

Hamilton Bulldogs

National Hockey League Parent Club Montreal Canadiens

Record 1-0-0-1

Standings Points (Relative to Rivermen) 3 (-1)

NORTH Division Standing t-3rd

Rivermen Record Against 0-0-0

Leading Scorer Andrew Conboy (1g, 1a, 2pts)

Starting Goaltender Curtis Sanford (1-0-1, 0.96 GAA, .970 sv%)

AHL Power-Play Rank 9th - 22.2%

AHL Penalty-Kill Rank t-1st - 100.0%

Rockford IceHogs

National Hockey League Parent Club Chicago Blackhawks

Record 2-1-1-0

Standings Points (Relative to Rivermen) 5 (+1)

West Division Standing t-2nd

Rivermen Record Against 0-0-0

Leading Scorer Mark Cullen (1g, 2a, 3pts)

Starting Goaltender Corey Crawford (1-1-0, 1.50 GAA, .947 sv%)

AHL Power-Play Rank t-14th - 15.4%

AHL Penalty-Kill Rank t-14th - 83.3%

*All statistics as of 10/12/09

RECENT TRANSACTIONS

10/12/2009 Anthony Peluso (LW) DEL Reassigned by St. Louis (NHL) to Alaska (ECHL)

10/10/2009 Tyson Strachan (D) ADD Returned on loan from St. Louis (NHL)

10/10/2009 Tyson Strachan (D) DEL Recalled from loan by St. Louis (NHL)

10/09/2009 D. J. King (RW) ADD Conditioning loan from St. Louis (NHL)

Check out the Peoria Rivermen Statistics

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American Hockey League Stories from October 12, 2009


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