Pensacola, FL – The Peoria Rivermen allowed a late go-ahead goal on an odd-man rush in the final minute of regulation as they fell 3-2 to the Pensacola Ice Flyers Saturday. The loss, Peoria’s second in a row, drops the Rivermen to 34-11-3 with one game remaining in the season series with Pensacola.
The Rivermen started the scoring and took the lead first late in the first period. At 17:12 Ben Power took a feed in the slot and ripped a wrister past Pensacola goaltender John McLean to make it 1-0 going into the first intermission.
The Ice Flyers tied the game in the second period when Joe Caveney beat Rivermen goaltender Kyle Rank at 9:40 to make it 1-1. 19 seconds after Pensacola tied the game, simultaneous fights broke out on the ice, resulting in numerous penalties against each team, boiling down to a two-minute Ice Flyers power play. At 11:13 of the period Josh Harris was issued a slashing penalty to give the Ice Flyers a five-on-three advantage. At 22 seconds later, Stephen Buco one-timed a pass from the top of the left circle past Rank to make it 2-1 Pensacola.
The Rivermen retied the game with less than a second remaining on the clock in the second frame. With Peoria on the power play, a mad scramble above the Pensacola crease spit the puck out above the left circle, where Steve Morra retreated, wheeled, and fired past McLean with eight-tenths of a second left to make it 2-2 through two periods.
The third period was played without score until Pensacola notched the game-winner with less than a minute remaining. The Ice Flyers picked the puck up in their own zone and started a three-on=two rush across the Peoria blue line. From the left wing, Josh Cousineau set to Adam Pawlick in the slot, and Pawlick’s one-timer beat Rank’s glove for the eventual game-winner.
Rank stopped 39 of 42 shots on goal in the losing effort to drop him to 19-6-2 on the season. The loss is Rank’s second in a row in his first game action since a March 5 loss to the Ice Flyers in Peoria.
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