Rivermen Top Dawgs in Overtime Saturday
Peoria, IL – The Peoria Rivermen and Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs exchanged goals for three periods before Guillaume Naud played hero in overtime, giving Peoria a 4-3 victory Saturday night at Carver Arena. Peoria’s third straight win improves them to 33-4-5 on the season before tomorrow afternoon’s weekend finale.
Peoria’s Kevin Patterson opened the scoring with a power play goal 6:48 into the opening frame on a one-timer from above the left circle following passes across the offensive zone from center Justin Greenberg and defensemen Ralfs Grinbergs. The goal, Patterson’s seventh of the year, gave the Rivermen the early 1-0 lead. The teams entered the first intermission tied at a goal apiece after Rail Yard Dawgs winger Jeff Jones deflected a puck sent airborne by defensemen Brian Rowland through Rivermen netminder Storm Phaneuf at the 18:36 mark of the period.
The teams split a pair of goals in the middle period and the game was tied at two into the second intermission. Roanoke took their first lead of the weekend at the 6:21 mark of the middle period on a power-play goal by winger Zach Nieminen. The lead was short-lived as Peoria winger Mike Gurtler redirected a drive from between the circles by defensemen Nick Neville to knot the game at 2-2 for the Rivermen on a power play of their own at 11:32 of the period.
Peoria and Roanoke again exchanged goals early in the third period. Gurtler redirected a shot on the right-wing post of the Roanoke net past goaltender Jacob Caffrey at 1:31 of the final period to put the Rivermen ahead 3-2. The Rail Yard Dawgs quickly followed with a power-play goal by Roanoke center Steve Mele just 59 seconds later to make the score 3-3 at the 2:30 mark of the frame. The game remained tied through the remainder of regulation, despite a 19-5 shots-on-goal advantage for the Rivermen in the third.
Naud ended the game 3:43 into the overtime frame, skating a full lap of the Roanoke net and faking a pass before lifting a shot from the right circle past Caffrey for the game-winner. Phaneuf earned the win for Peoria, stopping 14 of 17 shots faced through regulation and overtime. The victory improves Phaneuf’s record to 12-1-1 on the season and gave him his second straight victory.
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