PEORIA, ILL – After dropping a 2-1 decision to the Houston Aeros on Friday night, the Peoria Rivermen reversed the tables on the visitors and won on Saturday by the same score. Goaltender Ben Bishop took a shutout deep into the third period for Peoria, but it was a two-minute span in the second period that got the 6240 fans on their feet.
It all started with a power play against the least penalized team in the AHL. The Rivermen overwhelmed the Houston penalty kill unit after Jon DiSalvatore was boxed for goaltender interference. Derek Nesbitt attacked and took a total of four shots at Houston goaltender Darcy Kuemper, putting his first shot and three subsequent rebounds into Kuemper’s leg pad. The puck cleared to TJ Hensick at the top of the circle. Hensick passed down to Jonathan Cheechoo and Cheechoo sent a pass across the front of the crease to Nesbitt. This time Nesbitt put the one-timer into the net for the 1-0 Rivermen lead.
Less than two minutes later, Brett Sonne and Tyler Shattock broke in, two-on-one, against Kuemper. As Sonne skated into the face off circle with the puck, the defender went down to cut off the pass. Sonne kept the puck and instead fired a rocket that slipped through Kuemper’s five-hole. The officially unassisted goal gave the Rivermen a 2-0 lead.
In the third period, Jed Ortmeyer finally put the Aeros on the board when he beat Bishop at 13:24. Carson McMillan got the assist as Houston cut Peoria’s lead in half, 2-1.
Peoria went one for three on the power play while shutting out Houston during their four attempots with the man advantage. Both teams took 33 shots on the goal, with Bishop stopping 32 for the win and Kuemper 31 in the loss.
Peoria travels to Texas on Friday and return home on Saturday, January 21 against the San Antonio Rampage.
Contact the author: Shaun.Bill@ProHockeyNews.com
You must be logged in to post a comment.