Rank’s 30 saves lead Peoria to fourth straight victory
Peoria, IL – The Peoria Rivermen scored a goal in each period and got 30 saves in goal from Kyle Rank as they beat the Pensacola Ice Flyers 3-1 Friday night at Carver Arena. The win, Peoria’s fourth in a row, improves their record to 31-8-3 with two games remaining in the current home series against Pensacola.
The Rivermen and Ice Flyers played the game’s first 19:16 without score before Peoria got on the board first. With less than a minute left in the first frame Ben Oskroba unleashed a wrist shot from the Pensacola blue line and Rivermen winger Matt Summers redirected it past Ice Flyers goaltender John McLean to make it 1-0.
The Ice Flyers tied the game at the 11:59 mark of the third period when a bouncing puck in the slot came to the stick of Joe Caveney, who put it in off the arm of Rivermen goaltender Kyle Rank to tie the game 1-1. The Rivermen retook the lead at 15:24 of the second when Cody Dion entered the Ice Flyers zone, battled into the slot and settled a wobbling puck for trailer Steve Morra, who zipped a wrister past McLean’s glove to make it 2-1.
The score remained 2-1 for the rest of the second period and most of the third. Pensacola pulled their goaltender with 1:30 remaining on the clock. With the Ice Flyers cage unguarded, Rivermen forward Daniel Turgeon poked the puck away in the neutral zone and slid it ahead to Mike Gurtler, who fired it home from the Pensacola blue line for the eventual final score, 3-1.
Rank stopped 30 of 31 shots faced in goal to earn his fourth straight win between the pipes. The victory improves Rank to 19-4-3 on the season and lowers his league-best GAA to 2.12.
Notes: Summers’ goal gives him a four-game point streak…Gurtler’s goal gives him three tallies in his last two games…Rank’s 30-save performance are the most saves in one game by Rank since he stopped 30 in back-to-back games January 29 and 30 against Fayetteville.
Text provided by official SPHL press release
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