Rivermen Use The Force, Beat Evansville in Shootout Friday

January 12, 2018 7:15 pm

Home | Regular

Evansville Thunderbolts

Final
3
2
1
Thunderbolts
4
1
2
1
Rivermen
5
3
0
1

Photo Credit: Dennis Sievers/Peoria Rivermen

Rivermen Use The Force, Beat Evansville in Shootout Friday

Peoria battles back from 3-1 third-period deficit to earn seventh straight win

 

Peoria, IL – The Peoria Rivermen erased a 3-1 third-period deficit and came back to beat the Evansville Thunderbolts 5-4 in a shootout on Star Wars Night at Carver Arena Friday. The win, Peoria’s seventh in a row, keeps the Rivermen in second place in the SPHL, two points behind first-place Pensacola before tomorrow’s rematch with the Thunderbolts in Evansville.

 

The Thunderbolts got on the board early in the first period while on the power play. With Rivermen defenseman Dave Pszenyczny in the sin bin for roughing, the Thunderbolts won a draw in the right-wing circle of the Rivermen zone, and Thunderbolts defenseman Brendan Mitchell’s wrister was tipped by Evansville center John Scorcia past Rivermen goaltender Tyler Parks and into the back of the net for the 1-0 Evansville lead at 1:54 of the opening period.

 

The Rivermen evened the score at a goal apiece just 17 seconds later. Rivermen winger Dakota Klecha carried the puck up the right wing of the Thunderbolts zone and below the Evansville goal line. He then sent pass netfront to teammate Nick Miglio, who kicked it to his stick and stuffed it past Thunderbolts goaltender Jonah Imoo to tie the game 1-1 at 2:11 of the first.

 

Evansville regained the lead in the early stages of the middle stanza. Scorcia took a long feed from teammate Mike Fazio and skated into the Rivermen zone, guarded by Rivermen defenseman Ben Oskroba. Scorcia skated to the outside of the left circle and flicked a backhand shot over Parks’ left shoulder for the 2-1 edge at 5:54 of the second period.

 

The Thunderbolts added to their lead with the man advantage late in the second period. With Rivermen winger Connor Gorman sitting for slashing, the Thunderbolts controlled the puck in the Rivermen zone. Thunderbolts center Dylan Clarke sent a pass across the slot to Scorcia, who fired a shot from the left-wing circle past Parks for the power-play tally and 3-1 lead at 13:36 of the middle frame.

 

The Rivermen cut into the Thunderbolts lead and tied the contest with a quick pair of goals early in the third period. Peoria cut into the Evansville lead when winger Alec Hagaman took a pass from Gorman in the left circle of the Evansville end and fired a shot off Imoo’s trapper and into the back of the net to cut the Thunderbolts lead to 3-2 at 4:51 of the third period. Peoria tied the game at three goals each 59 seconds later when Peoria center/defenseman Jordan Carvalho took a shot from the doorstep that was stopped by Imoo, but Peoria winger Dakota Klecha promptly stuffed the rebound into the net at 5:50 of the third period.

 

Evansville regained the lead just before the midway point of the third period. Thunderbolts defenseman Frank Schumacher held the puck along the Rivermen blue line, and fired a shot from that beat Parks over the blocker and into the back of the net for the 4-3 edge at 8:20 of the third period.

 

Peoria would once again tie the contest just past the midway point of the third period. With the Rivermen controlling play in the Evansville zone, Peoria defenseman Brandon Rumble corralled the puck along the right-wing boards and flipped a shot towards the net that was redirected past Imoo by Rivermen winger Cody Dion to tie the game 4-4 at 10:23 of the third period. The game remained tied for the remainder of regulation and went to overtime.

 

Neither team could net the game winner in overtime, and the contest headed to a shootout. The first two Peoria shooters, center Jacob Barber and winger Ryan Siiro, beat Imoo while Parks blanked all four Evansville attempts to seal the 5-4 shootout win.

 

Parks stopped 35 of 39 shots faced in regulation and overtime and turned away all four shootout attempts to earn his 8th straight win in net. With his victory, Parks improves to 8-1-0 on the season.

 

Notes: With his goal in the third period, Hagaman extended his point scoring streak to 16 games, the longest in the SPHL this season…Miglio notched a goal and an assist to record his first SPHL multi-point game since 11/10/17 vs Knoxville…Peoria picked up their first shootout win since October 21 at Evansville…The Rivermen return to action Saturday night when they travel to Evansville, IN to rematch the Thunderbolts in the second half of the weekend’s home-and-home series…Game time is scheduled for 7:15 p.m. CST…The broadcast of the game can be heard, starting with the pre-game show, at 6:55 p.m. at http://mixlr.com/peoria-rivermen/

 

Group, single game, and season tickets for Peoria's 36th 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)