SOUTHAVEN, Miss. – Bret Peppler and Matt Harrington each had a pair of points and Peter Di Salvo made 24 saves in his first game back with the team as the Mississippi RiverKings (24-14-7) erased an early two-goal deficit to knock off the Macon Mayhem (19-23-5) in a shootout, 4-3.
The Mayhem tallied a pair of goals in the first five minutes. Stephen Pierog ripped a one-time shot off a pass from Jackson Brewer behind the net to give Macon a 1-0 lead 1:02 into the first period. Three minutes later, Jake Trask fired a slap shot over the glove of Di Salvo to put the visitors up 2-0.
Just under 10 minutes later, the RiverKings cut the deficit to one. Cullen Bradshaw set up Tim Boyle at the blueline and his shot deflected off of Charlie Mosey and past Garrett Bartus to bring the RiverKings within one. Two minutes later, Donald Olivieri’s blast beat Bartus over the glove to tie the game at two going into the second period.
The RiverKings took a lead early in the middle frame. With Pierog in the box for slashing, Bret Peppler deflected a Matt Harrington shot past Bartus on the power play to give the RiverKings a 3-2 lead 3:54 into the second.
Macon came back to tie the game on Trask’s second of the game from Shawn Skelly and Brewer with 5:24 left in the second.
After a scoreless third period and overtime, the game headed to a shootout. Neither team converted in the first round and after Di Salvo stopped Trask in the second round, Harrington beat Bartus between the legs. Skelly was also denied by Di Salvo before Linden Bahm faked a shot and lifted a wrist shot over Bartus. Di Salvo then stopped Mark Riviera to give the RiverKings a 4-3 win to snap a four-game losing streak.
Peter Di Salvo (10-3-2) stopped 24 of 27 shots against in the win. Garrett Bartus (17-15-5) took the loss after stopping 32 of 35 shots against.
The RiverKings were 1-3 on the power player, while Macon was held scoreless on five opportunities with the man-advantage.
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