PEORIA, ILL – After it was all over and the final horn had sounded, Peoria Rivermen Captain Dean Arsene skated over to the penalty box and grabbed the microphone from the public address announcer. The crowd grew quiet at this unusual move as Arsene moved to speak. “I’d like to invite you all to follow us into the playoffs,” he said, as the 6179 erupted into raucous cheers. The Peoria Rivermen had just come back from a 2-0 deficit with five unanswered goals to defeat the Chicago Wolves and clinch a berth in the American Hockey League Calder Cup playoffs. The night did not start off so ebullient. The Wolves jumped out to an early lead at less than two minutes into the game. Fredrik Pettersson took some heat and brought the puck down low while heavily defended. He passed in front of the net to Andre Devaeux, which caught Rivermen goaltender Jake Allen on the wrong side of the net. Devaeux buried the puck in the vacated net for the 1-0 lead. It continued to be all Chicago throughout the first period. Pettersson would again take punishment when he took a pass from Devaeux late in the first period. Covered by a couple of defenders, Pettersson was able to sneak a pass into the slot for Jason Krog, who put it over the left shoulder of Allen for a 2-0 Chicago lead with just nine seonds left in the opening frame. The game turned when the Rivermen brought offensive pressure in a big way during the second period. At 5:23 of the period, Stefan Della Rovere gathered a wide shot from Derek Peltier behind the net and snuck it between the skate of Chicago goaltender Peter Mannino and a post for a wrap-around goal to cut the Chicago lead in half, 2-1. The Rivermen continued to pressure and Peoria’s second goal was truly an incredible sight. A Chicago penalty had just expired. With the puck in front of Mannino, the Rivermen defensemen moved to the bench to change. The Peoria forwards, Jay Bariball, Derek Nesbitt, and Akim Aliu were outnumbered but still controlled the puck. Bariball’s shot rebounded out to the top left circle where Nesbitt gathered it in and spun a no-look pass to the bottom of the right circle where Aliu was waiting. Aliu blasted the puck over Mannio’s right shoulder to tie the game at two goals apiece with less than two minutes remaining in the period. Standing testament to the pressure Peoria brought during the period were the 22 shots on goal. Chicago was able to only manage four. The Rivermen opened the third period on the power play and the team continued to test Mannino. Tyson Strachan and TJ Hensick were unable to find a hole and Hensick passed to Nathan Oystrick. A hole formed at 0:42 of the third period and the Rivermen had a 3-2 lead. The Rivermen weren’t done yet. Nesbitt made a beautiful pass in front of the net to Anthony Nigro at 12:55 of the third period and Nigro buried for a 4-2 lead. Nicholas Drazenovic tossed a slow clearing pass late in the game that rolled into an empty net to cap the scoring. The game ended with the Rivermen peppering Mannino with 43 shots. The Wolves responded with 24 shots o their own. Each team had four power play opportunities, but Peoria was the only one to score with the man advantage, capitalizing on once. Peoria closes the regular season tomorrow night against possible first-round opponent, Milwaukee. Chicago has two games remaining in order to attempt to claim the final playoff spot in the conference. Contact the author: Shaun.Bill@ProHockeyNews.com
