Rivermen Score 5 Unanswered Goals to Drop RiverKings 5-2 Friday

Photo Credit: Kori LaVire/Mississippi RiverKings

Rivermen Score 5 Unanswered Goals to Drop RiverKings 5-2 Friday

Jones’s pair leads charge for Peoria before Saturday rematch in Southaven

Southaven, MS – The Peoria Rivermen came back from a 2-0 first period deficit to score five unanswered goals early in the second en route to a 5-2 victory over the Mississippi  RiverKings at Landers Center Friday night. The win, Peoria’s second in their last three games against the Kings, improves the Rivermen to 12-4-7 on the season, one point behind the RiverKings for third place in the SPHL standings before tomorrow night’s rematch in Southaven.

The RiverKings started the scoring with a goal in the game’s first two minutes. Early in the period, with play ensuing in the Peoria zone, the RiverKings worked the puck out to defenseman Tomas Parizek at the left point, and his wrist shot found its way through traffic, over the shoulder of Peoria goaltender Tyler Green, and under the cross bar for a 1-0 RiverKings lead just 1:26 into the game.

The RiverKings doubled their lead just before the end of the first period. In the period’s final minute, RiverKings winger Todd Hosmer entered the right wing of the Peoria zone and passed to teammate Cullen Bradshaw in the middle. Bradshaw’s feed back to Hosmer was buried into an open net at 19:18 of the first for a 2-0 Mississippi lead.

The Rivermen came storming out of the blocks to erase their deficit and take a lead of their own early in the second. At the 3:11 mark of the second, Peoria defenseman Cole Hutchinson took a wrister from the left point that threaded through traffic and past Mississippi goaltender Brad Barone for a 2-1 score. The Rivermen tied the game just 25 seconds later when Rich Ledy’s one-time drive from the right point was tipped past Barone by Peoria winger Dakota Klecha to tie the game at 2 with 15:54 left in the second stanza.

The Peoria onslaught continued just 37 seconds later, when Peoria forward Jeff Jones jammed an Adam Stuart feed under Barone’s pads for a 3-2 Peoria lead. The Rivermen built their lead at the 5:15 mark of the period when Cody Dion buried a feed from atop the Mississippi crease to make the score 4-2. Peoria capped the scoring with Jones’ second goal of the game at 6:11 of the second period, completing a 5-goal run in a span of 2:30 of game time.

Green stopped 23 of 25 shots faced to earn his second straight win in net after he beat the RiverKings at Carver Arena December 30. The win improves Green’s record between the pipes to a team-best 7-1-3.

Notes: Jones notched his second career multi-goal game, and his first two-goal performance since April 8 of last season against Fayetteville as a member of the Huntsville Havoc…Stuart notched two assists for his first multi-point game since he had three helpers November 25 against Evansville…Hutchinson posted a goal and an assist for his first career multi-point game…Dion also notched a goal and an assist for his first multi-point game since he posted a hat trick December 17 against Evansville…Connor Gorman notched his first assist since November 25 against Evansville…Peoria went 0-for-6 on the power play, making them 1-for-49 since a November 12 power-play goal…The Rivermen and RiverKings return to action tomorrow night when they rematch at Landers Center in Southaven, MS at 7:30 p.m….The broadcast of the game can be heard, starting with the pre-game show, beginning at 7:15 p.m. at http://mixlr.com/peoria-rivermen/

Group, single game, and season tickets for Peoria's 35th season of professional hockey presented by Midwest Orthopaedic Center are on sale at the Toyota Box Office in the Peoria Civic Center, or by phone at the Rivermen office, located at 201 S.W. Jefferson Street, or over the phone at (309) 676-1040. For the latest Rivermen news and notes, follow online at www.rivermen.net or through Facebook (www.facebook.com/PeoriaRivermen) - Twitter(https://twitter.com/Peoria_Rivermen)