Peoria, IL – The Peoria Rivermen scored three goals in the first 22:44 of regulation and held on to beat the Quad City Storm 3-2 at Carver Arena Friday night. The win, Peoria’s fourth in a row, improves the Rivermen to 13-1-3 on the season before tomorrow night’s game in Evansville against the Thunderbolts.
The Rivermen jumped out to a lead when they opened the scoring just over three minutes into the contest. Rivermen center Ben Blasko rushed down the right wing of the Storm zone, accepted a pass from teammate Joseph Widmar, and sent a pass back to the slot for Dean Yakura, who snapped it past Storm goaltender Eric Levine for a 1-0 lead at 3:10 of the first. Peoria doubled their lead with a marker late in the first period. Peoria defenseman Ben Oskroba’s show was partially blocked from the left point of the Quad City zone, and bounced to the right-wing post, where Vincent Beaudry popped it past a sprawling Levine for a 2-0 score at 14:02 of the frame.
The Rivermen lead grew to 3-0 with a power-play goal early in the second period. With Quad City shorthanded courtesy of a Too Many Men bench minor, Rivermen winger Will Smith sent a drive to the net from the left point, and Rivermen winger Austin Vieth stuffed the ensuing rebound past Levine for a 3-0 lead at 2:44 of the frame. The Storm got on the board with a power-play tally late in the second period. With Rivermen defenseman Ben Oskroba in the box for holding, Storm center Mitchell Mueller’s one-timer from the right point was redirected by Quad City veteran winger Vladimir Nikiforov and into the net past Rivermen goaltender Stephen Klein for a 3-1 score at 14:01 of the second period.
The Storm got to within a goal with another power-play tally late in the third period. With Widmar serving a roughing minor, Storm winger Dalton Mills took a pass from Mueller at the right circle and darted a shot over Klein’s shoulder for a 3-2 score at 14:59 of the third period. The Rivermen held off an extra-attacker sequence in the final minute of regulation for the second straight game, hanging on to win by a 3-2 final score. Klein stopped 22 of 24 shots in net to earn his second straight win and improve to 7-1-0 on the season.
You must be logged in to post a comment.