Rivermen post solid win over Grand Rapids, 4-2

PEORIA, ILL – The Peoria Rivermen scored four goals, all in the second period,

Photo by Chris Loudermilk

to rally and beat the visiting Grand Rapids Griffins in front of 4790 fans on a snowy Friday night in Peoria. Adam Cracknell had three assists, Evgeny Grachev had a goal and an assist while Ian Cole (goal) and Chris Porter (assist) has their first points in a Rivermen sweater this season.

The Rivermen looked well-positioned, early in the game, when the team went on the power play. Instead, the Griffins played turnabout when Peoria defenseman Danny Syvret fell down in the neutral zone. Mitch Callahan and Louis-Marc Aubry lead a three-on-two breakaway. Callahan dropped a pass to a trailing Brendan Smith, who blasted a low shot past Rivermen goaltender Ben Bishop to open the scoring at 6:48 of the first period.

Photo by Chris Loudermilk

The opening frame also featured a fight between Mike Thomas and Brennan Evans at center ice. Although they spent most of the time tied up with each other, Evans managed to pop Thomas with a few quick left jabs to the face in the middle of the fight.

After making a spectacular play to open the second period, Joey MacDonald, the Griffins goalie, was pressured again a couple minutes later. Cracknell put a shot into his left leg pad and was able to gather the rebound, but MacDonald

Photo by Chris Loudermilk

was able to stop it with his right knee. That puck bounced out to Jonathan Cheechoo, who was able to finish it for the tie at 1:49 of the second period.

This ushered in a time of heavy pressure by the Peoria offense. A slapshot at the blueline from Cole, just down from the St. Louis Blues, gave the Rivermen a 2-1 lead. Cade Fairchild repeated the act moments later to pad the Peoria lead to two at 3-1. Grachev, Shaun Heska, Syvret and Cracknell all tallied assists on those goals at 7:04 and 8:37 of the second period.

Great skating by Brett Sterling again lead to sustained pressure on the Grand Rapids goalie, drawing a penalty. On the ensuing face off, Cracknell and Porter, down from St.Louis on a conditioning assignment, fed Grachev.

Photo by Chris Loudermilk

Grachev skated across the crease, stretching out MacDonald and drawing him down. Grachev held the puck and waiting MacDonald out, finally firing one over the leg pad for a power play goal and a 4-1 lead.

With Syvret boxed for a crosscheck right after the third period face off, Grand Rapids pressured Bishop on the power play. Bishop was drawn out of position as Francis Pare whiffed on a shot and Joakim Andersson picked up the puck and fired it in to draw the Griffins within two, 4-2 at 1:48 of the third period.

MacDonald stopped 40 of 44 shots in the loss while Ben Bishop kept 32 of 34 Griffins shots out of the net for his 18^th win of the season. Both teams scored on the power play once and Grand Rapids had a shorthanded goal.