PEORIA, IL – The Peoria Rivermen had hoped to give its 7,621 fans a win in the team’s 2014-2015 final regular season home game. The Mississippi RiverKings had other ideas.
Mike Hayward scored late in the third period to lift the RiverKings over the SPHL-leading Rivermen 3-2. Peoria will finish the season on the road before coming home for the first round of the playoffs later this month.
Peoria held Mississippi without a shot in the game’s opening ten minutes. Unfortunately for the home team, the Rivermen surrendered the game-opening goal to the RiverKings’ Devin Mantha on a power play 17:28 into the frame. It was the lone score of the period as Peoria’s Kyle Rank and Mississippi’s Adam Courchaine looked dialed in for a battle of the goalies.
The Rivermen pulled even 5:27 into the second. Ryan Raven fired a shot that Courchaine stopped but the rebound came out to Josh Harris. Harris calmly sent the puck back toward the net and it slipped between the goalie’s pads, slowly trickling across the goal line to tie the score.
Mississippi responded a little under four minutes later when Leo Thomas scored to put the visitors back in front. Despite outshooting their opponents 24-13 during the middle frame, the Rivermen found themselves trailing 2-1 after two.
Nick Schneider’s first goal of the season again got the Rivermen back into a tie. Schneider beat Courchaine with a slap shot from the point at the 8:41 mark, setting up a tense final ten minutes.
Just when it looked like the game might be heading to overtime, Hayward drilled a shot from the point that breezed past Rank and into the back of the net. It came with six minutes remaining in regulation but Peoria was unable to score the equalizer.
Courchaine had an outstanding evening, facing 50 shots and stopping 48 of them to record the win. Rank made 31 saves on 34 Mississippi shots in falling for the tenth time this season.
The RiverKings went one-for-two on the power play while the Rivermen failed on all three of their man advantage chances.
Contact the author at shaun.bill@prohockeynews.com or follow him on Twitter @SLBatPHN
You must be logged in to post a comment.