First Visit to Chicago Ends in 4-2 Loss
Opponent: @Chicago Wolves
Date: February 5, 2011 7:00
Score(Home/Away): 4-2 L
In
their first trip to Allstate Arena this season, the Peoria Rivermen fell to the
Chicago Wolves 4-2 Saturday night in front of 10, 528 fans. Two goals in a span
of 1:36 in the opening minutes of the third period propelled Chicago to the victory,
its second win against the Rivermen this season.
Chicago wasted no time in jumping on the board early as Michael Davies deflected a shot from the blue line past Jake Allen just 3:59 into the first period. Jamie Sifers, who took the initial shot, was credited with the assist along with Jason Krog.
The Rivermen evened up the game 1-1 at 10:12 of the first as Dave Spina notched his eighth goal of the season. Stefan Della Rovere skated into Peoria’s offensive zone and put a cross-ice pass directly on the stick of Spina. Spina then placed a slap shot between the legs of Chicago’s goaltender Drew MacIntyre who slowed the puck, but could not stop it. Della Rovere and Nigro recorded the assists.
The Wolves once again took the lead relatively early in the second period. Andrey Zubarev witt a blind, turnaround shot from just inside the blue line, at the 5:46 mark, placed one between the legs of a shielded Allen. It was Zubarev’s first career AHL goal. Nigel Dawes and Jared Ross notched the assists.
Chicago carried their 2-1 advantage into the second intermission, but just 3:30 into the third, the Wolves added an insurance goal directly off of a faceoff in Peoria’s defensive zone. Just after the puck was dropped on the faceoff, Sifers took a shot from the blueline that was tipped out of the air by Andre Deveaux past Allen.
At 5:06, Dawes notched his 23rd goal of the season on a perfectly placed snapshot over the left shoulder of the Peoria goaltender. It gave Chicago a 4-1 lead and Krog picked up his second assist of the game.
Peoria answered at 12:30 of the third period as Nathan Oystrick scored against his former team, to cut the Chicago lead to 4-2. Oystrick took a snapshot off of the left post and in past MacIntyre. T.J. Hensick and Chris Porter got the assists on the goal. Hensick now has a point in seven straight games.
Allen stopped 30 of 34 shots in recording the loss while MacIntyre finished with 24 saves on 26 shots to pick up the win. Peoria also finished 0-for-3 on the power play while Chicago ended the game 0-for-2 on the man advantage.
With the loss, Peoria drops to third in the division standings, two points behind San Antonio and Milwaukee who both won on Saturday.
The Rivermen conclude their four-game road trip on Wednesday in Milwaukee at 7 p.m. The game can be heard locally on 96.5 ESPN Radio in Peoria.
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