Rivermen Cap Cold War On 74 With Victory Over Storm

March 23, 2019 7:15 pm

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Photo Credit: Dennis Sievers/Peoria Rivermen

Rivermen Cap Cold War On 74 With Victory Over Storm

Peoria finishes 13-2-1 in 16-game season series with Quad City

 

Peoria, IL – The Peoria Rivermen scored twice in the first period and never trailed en route to a 4-1 win over the Quad City Storm at the Peoria Civic Center Saturday night. The win, Peoria’s second in as many nights, improves Peoria to 37-7-8 on the season with four games remaining in the regular season.

The Rivermen scored a pair of goals 93 seconds apart to take a 2-0 lead into the first intermission. Peoria winger Joe Kalisz netted the game’s first goal and his 10th of the season at the 15:47 mark of the frame, one-timing a Ben Blasko pass from the right circle. Rivermen forward Pijus Rulevicius followed with a wrister from the same spot past the left shoulder of Storm netminder Peter Di Salvo. Rulevicius’s 11th goal of the season doubled the advantage at the 17:20 mark of the period.

 

Peoria defensemen Ben Oskroba lit the lamp early in the second period for his eighth goal of the season, one-timing a pass from blueline mate Nick Neville at the top of the Quad City slot to push the advantage to 3-0 at the 2:41 mark of the second period.

 

Storm forward Stephen Gaul got Quad City on the board at the 11:18 mark of the middle frame, wristing a shot from inside the left circle past Stephen Klein’s glove to close the gap to 3-1 into the second intermission.

 

The Rivermen put the game out of reach in the third period when Beau Walker skated into the left-wing circle of the Quad City zone and one-timed a feed from teammate Ryan Siiro past Di Salvo at the 7:16 mark of the period for the eventual 4-1 final score.

 

Klein earned the win between the pipes and improved to 20-5-2 on the season with the victory, stopping 23 of 24 Storm shots. The victory is Klein’s second in as many nights and dropped his league-best goals-against to 1.84.

 

Notes: With the win Peoria lowers its magic number to one point to clinch a regular-season points championship…Siiro totaled three assists in a game for the first time in his career…Kalisz has posted four points in as many games since returning from injured reserve last week…Peoria scratched captain Alec Hagaman and defenseman Ralfs Grinbergs…Rivermen defenseman Jake Hamilton served the first game of a two-game league suspension…The Rivermen are back at Carver Arena next weekend for a two-game set with Evansville…Friday, March 29 is Turn Back the Clock Night with all upper bowl seats available for $5 and 22 ounce Coca Cola fountain drinks for $2…Saturday, March 30 is Star Wars Night with the Rivermen presented by the Central Illinois Autism Association…The team will wear specialty Star Wars jerseys to be auctioned off postgame…Puck drop for both Friday and Saturday is set for 7:15…The broadcast of both games can be heard, starting with the pregame show at 6:55, on http://mixlr.com/peoria-rivermen/

 

Group, single game, and season tickets for Peoria's 37th 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)