PEORIA, ILL – That’s not the way you want it to end. With 8930 screaming fans in the stands, the Peoria Rivermen put on a show, going down 3-1 in the first period before charging back and controlling the game for the final 39 minutes and 53 1/2 seconds. It was those last six-and-a-half seconds that were the toughest as the Rivermen dropped this regular season finale to Milwaukee by a 4-3 score.
If you weren’t paying close attention, you would have thought the Rivermen dominated the first period.
Play was consistently in front of Milwaukee goalie Jeremy Smith and the Admirals could not mount sustained pressure at the Peoria end when the teams were at even strength. But the period ended with Milwaukee leading 3-1 as both teams scored on all of their power play opportunities. Peoria scored on their only man advantage of the period while Milwaukee scored on both of theirs.
The scoring began with Chris Mueller scoring a backdoor goal on a rebound shot at 7:06 of the opening frame during a power play – Brett Palin and Cory Conacher with the assists.
Peoria answered with a nifty power play goal of their own when Nathan Oystrick kept the puck in the attacking zone and shot a quick pass to Tyson Strachan. Strachan one-timed it to TJ Hensick across the ice who then returned the favor back to Nicholas Drazenovic. That third pass was enough to pull Smith out of position for Drazenovic to take a slapshot.
The puck hit the crossbar and deflected down on the white side of the red line to tie the game at one-all.
The game was tied for only 16 seconds, though, as Ryan Flynn took the faceoff and scored the only even strength goal of the period.
Conacher scored the final tally of the period when Mueller’s shot was blocked to Allen’s right. Conacher fired the puck in for a backdoor rebound goal, and the teams went to the locker room with Milwaukee ahead, 3-1.
Peoria would dominate the second period at both ends of the ice and on the scoreboard. The Rivermen were all over the Admirals but had nothing to show for it until they had a man advantage late in the period. Peoria swarmed the net when Drazenovic took the puck on the left side of the net and lofted a pass over the crease to Hensick. All alone after coming down from the point, Hensick set the puck down and roofed a shot to bring the Rivermen within a goal, 3-2.
Seconds later, after an Admirals icing call, Brett Sonne won the faceoff, pushing the puck out to Daryl Boyle at the blue line. Boyle fired a shot that Smith obviously didn’t see as the goaltender remained motionless as the puck struck net to tie the game at three goals each. For the second straight night, Peoria absolutely monopolized all facets of play during the middle period, this time outshooting Milwaukee 18-5 and outscoring them 2-0.
There would be no scoring by the home team in the third period, even as the Rivermen continued to pour on the pressure. Very late, with about 12 seconds left, the Rivermen were hammering the Admirals and Smith when a rebound popped out. Ryan Thang gathed it and took off for the other end of the ice. A two-on-two breakaway, Thang was able to get a clean shot off and Allen was unable to get enough of the puck to stop it, and the winning goal was scored with just 6.5 seconds remaining in the game.
Rivermen held a tremendous shot o goal advantage, 31-18. Both teams scored twice on the power play, with the Admirals converting on two of their three man-advantages while the Rivermen had five chances.
Playoff pairings are not yet complete. They depend on the Texas game-in-hand against. Any points by Texas against San Antonio Sunday will push the Rivermen to fourth seed, where they would play these same Admirals. If San Antonio wins in regulation, the Rivermen will be the third seed and face Houston.
Contact the author: Shaun.Bill@ProHockeyNews.com
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