Rivermen Drop Back-And-Forth Affair in Huntsville Friday

February 2, 2018 7:00 pm

Away | Regular

Huntsville Havoc

Final
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Havoc
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Rivermen
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Photo Credit: Chris Shimek/Huntsville Havoc

Rivermen Drop Back-And-Forth Affair in Huntsville Friday

PIacentini’s shootout winner completes hat trick to snap Peoria’s 3-game win streak

 

Huntsville, AL – The Peoria Rivermen and Huntsville Havoc battled to a 4-4 tie through 60 minutes and a five-minute overtime Friday night before Tyler Piacentini’s shootout-winning goal lifted the Havoc to a 5-4 extra-time win at the Von Braun Center. The loss, Peoria’s first since January 20, keeps the Rivermen in second place, three points shy of first-place Huntsville before tomorrow’s rematch with the Havoc.

 

Huntsville started the scoring in the first period with an early power-play tally. With Rivermen winger Joe Kalisz serving a too-many-men bench minor, Huntsville center Christian Powers took a feed from teammate Tyler Piacentini into the slot of the Peoria zone, and Powers’ drive beat Peoria goaltender Tyler Parks for the 1-0 Huntsville lead five minutes into the contest.

 

The Rivermen battled back and rallied to a 2-1 lead in the latter half of the game’s opening frame. Peoria tied the game when Rivermen defenseman Cody Smith carried the puck down the left wing boards of the Huntsville zone, and fired a shot down the goal line that squeaked through Havoc netminder Keegan Asmundson at 11:40 of the stanza. Peoria took the lead minutes later on a 5-on-3 power-play, with Havoc defensemen Skylar Smutek and Stuart Stefan in the box for holding and cross-checking, respectively, Rivermen defenseman Dave Pszenyczny’s drive from the high slot resulted in a rebound that Peoria center Justin Greenberg popped over Asmundson’s outstretched pad for a 2-1 Peoria lead at 14:41 of the first.

 

The Havoc retied the score at two apiece with another power-play marker early in the second period. With Rivermen winger Keegan Bruce on the shelf for roughing, Havoc  winger Kyle Sharkey’s pass from the left point found Piacentini on the right-wing post, and his deflection got past Parks for the 2-2 tie at 6:45 of the frame.

 

Peoria re-took a one-goal edge with a marker late in the second frame. With play ongoing in the Havoc zone, Pszenyczny collected a pass from Rivermen center Joseph Widmar and sent it to the high slot, where Bruce’s wrist shot whizzed past Asmundson and into the back of the net for a 3-2 score at 14:27 of the period.

 

The Havoc tied the game with a pair of goals in the front half of the third and final period of regulation. With Peoria on the power-play the Havoc sprung a pass out of the Huntsville zone, and Piacentini collected it in neutral ice, raced into the Rivermen zone, and fired a wrister around Pszenyczny and past Parks for a 3-3 tie two minutes into the third. The Havoc took a 4-3 lead when Sharkey found the puck in the high slot of the Peoria zone, danced through two Rivermen defenders, and beat Parks at 8:40 of the period.

 

The Rivermen re-tied the game with a marker of their own just past the midway point of the third period. With play ongoing in neutral territory, Rivermen wingers Connor Gorman and Will Smith entered the Huntsville zone in tandem, and Gorman’s pass from the right wing found Smith on the high slot, where the latter rifled a shot past Asmundson at 13:07 of the final period. The game remained tied through the rest of regulation and overtime, and the contest descended into a shootout.

 

In the penalty shot tiebreaker, each team’s first shooter was turned away before Piacentini raced into the zone and stuffed his attempt through Parks’ five-hole for the 1-0 shootout lead. After the next five shooters were denied, Stefan carried the fifth Huntsville effort into the Peoria zone and shot it past Parks to seal the victory.

 

Parks stopped 23 of 27 shots faced in regulation and overtime, as he suffered his first shootout loss of the season. The defeat snaps a personal two-game winning string for Parks and marks his first extra-time loss in fourteen outings this season.

 

Notes: Pszenyczny posted three assists for the second straight game…Bruce tallied a goal and an assist for his first multi-point game since joining the Rivermen…Bruce also has a four-game point scoring streak dating back to his Rivermen debut last Friday…Cody Smith scored his second career goal, and his second in as many games…Greenberg’s goal extends his point and goal-scoring streaks to four games…The Rivermen return to action tomorrow night when they wrap up their weekend series with a rematch against the Havoc in Huntsville at 7 PM…The broadcast of the game can be heard, starting with the pre-game show, at 6:40 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)