PEORIA, Ill – The Rivermen dominated Houston through the first two periods on Friday night at Carver Arena in Peoria. As many as 5108 fans watched the home team outshoot Houston 43-28, but fall 4-3 in a shoot out.
Despite dictating the tempo and direction of the game early, the Aeros got on the board first. Nate Prosser stood in front of the net and buried a Jean-Michel Daoust rebound past Rivermen goaltender Jake Allen nine minutes into the first period.
Peoria continued to dominate play however and, after killing off a Houston power play, were awarded with one of their own. Newcomer Slava Truko took a pass from Nathan Oystrick and fired a shot that was initially stopped by Houston netminder Anton Khudobin. The Aeros goaltender could not find a handle on the puck, though, for several seconds. Nicholas Drazenovic did, however, and slid the puck into the corner of the net to tie the game.
The Rivermen gained another power play just three minutes later and capitalized on it, as well. Chris Porter won the face-off and Tyson Strachan tipped it to Phil McRae. McRae was able to find the same corner Drazenovic did just five seconds into the man advantage to put the Rivermen ahead 2-1.
The only scoring in the second period came on a slow developing play during a Houston power play. Patrick O’Sullivan had the puck on the doorstep and Allen slid over, perfectly positioned. O’Sullivan held his fire, though, and with Allen frozen, reached out and slid the puck around him. At first it looked like a defender was able to get a stick on it, but the puck trickled in to tie the game.
The third period went back and forth, as both teams tried to finish the game in regulation. FIve minutes into the period, Colton Gillies was awarded a penalty shot. He scored as he moved across the goal mouth from right-to-left. This gave the Aeros a 3-2 lead.
It was the Rivermen turn to answer seven minutes later when Drazenovic was able to tie it. Hensick made a great move that left the puck in the slot for Drazenovic. Instead of passing to Trukho, camped in front of Khudobin, Drazenovic skated through and around traffic, putting the puck into the crease as he skated past the net. The puck deflected off the back of Khudobin’s stick and between his legs for the tying goal.
The game would eventually go to a shootout and Cody Almond had the tie-breaking shootout goal, going high and stickside to keep Houston in first place in the Western Division.
These two teams play again on Sunday afternoon. Both teams travel to Minnesota to watch Houston’s NHL affiliate, the Wild, play Peoria’s parent club, the Blues play Saturday night. The Aeros and Rivermen will play on the same ice Sunday at 1:00 pm.
Contact the author: Shaun.Bill@ProHockeyNews.com
