Peoria has few margins for error in home stretch

QUEBEC CITY. P.Q. -After missing the AHL playoffs the past two seasons, the Peoria Rivermen top brass are pining for post-season success.
 
“At this time of the year we expect to set up our structure that we want to use and expect ourselves to be as close to perfect as far as our structure goes”, said coach Davis Payne said. “We feel we getting close, making fewer mistakes in forechecking situations by getting cleaner. We’ve doing a better job defending the rush as of late but we still have got way to go.”
 
The team faces big hurdles beyond the customary injuries and call-ups because every game will be crucial.
 
With a record of 23-27-1-1, Peoria trailed Chicago by two points and had played two more games. Payne conceded the team has been plagued by inconsistency and occasional slow starts.
 
“We haven’t played our best game in a little while with guys out of our lineup combined with inconsistent performances,” Payne said. “Our special teams haven’t been as sharp as they were in the first part of the season so these are the areas we should tighten up. We expect ourselves to be part of the playoffs and in order to do that we have got to play hard, we have got to play smart and we have to play together and that has to occur at the start of each hockey game.” 
 
Payne wasn’t shy about pointing to the need for improvement. “Our special team needs to get better, I think our goaltenders need to get better, and I also think that offensively we need to do a much better job consistently driving the net”, he said.
 
Payne noted the schedule has Peoria matched with teams it trails in the standings, giving the Rivermen opportunities to move up the table.
“It’s going to come down to a certain standard and it is also coming down to executing the detail areas of the game,” he said. “The teams that do it better, the teams that pay attention to more of these details are going into the playoffs. It is the detail and how good we can be in those areas, how much we can sacrifice ourselves into those areas whether it is finding a way to block a shot, whether it is finding a way to take a hit to park it deep or to change quick or take a punch and never retaliate.”
 
Contact the author at: serge.poulin@prohockeynews.com