Peoria, IL – The Peoria Rivermen got a pair of goals from Steve Morra, 20 saves from Kyle Rank, and boisterous support from 1,001 fans at Owens Center as they beat the Macon Mayhem 4-1 Saturday night. The win clinches Peoria’s first playoff series victory since 2004, and moves the Rivermen into the SPHL President’s Cup semi-finals against the winner of tomorrow’s game between Fayetteville and Knoxville.
The Rivermen opened the scoring late in the first period. Connor Toomey carried the puck down the left-wing boards of the Macon zone, and his short shot resulted in a rebound that Steve Morra pounded home for a 1-0 lead.
The Mayhem tied the game with a short-handed goal early in the second period. With Daniel Gentzler in the box for slashing, a faceoff in the Peoria zone came to the top of the crease, where former Rivermen winger Jake Trask slid the puck under Peoria goaltender Kyle Rank to make it 1-1. The Rivermen re-took the lead for good on the very same power-play, just 27 seconds later when Dave Pszenyczny’s drive from the top of the slot threaded the needle and snuck inside the left post to make it 2-1.
The Rivermen doubled their lead at 10:00 of the second when winger Steve Morra drove through the left circle of the Macon zone and squeezed a shot inside the near-side post to make it 3-1. The 3-1 score held into the final two minutes of regulation, when Macon pulled Bartus for an extra attacker. After an errant Macon pass, the puck squirted out to neutral ice, where Alec Hagaman carried into the Macon zone, and popped it into the top shelf of the empty net to seal the 4-1 win at 18:28 of the third.
Rank stopped 20 of 21 shots in net to earn his second win in as many post-season appearances this year. All-time, Rank is 6-7 in 13 career playoff games.
Notes: Peoria’s series win is the first Rivermen series victory since the 2003-04 ECHL Rivermen advanced to the second round of the Kelly Cup playoffs…Morra added an assist to his two goals to set a new postseason career high with three points…Pszenyczny posted his first playoff assist in addition to his second postseason goal…Hagaman scored the empty-net goal for his second tally in as many games…Rank has stopped 40 of 41 shots faced over the last two games, and has not lost in regulation since March 19 at Pensacola…The Rivermen will move on to the SPHL President’s Cup semi-finals, where they will play the winner of tomorrow’s Game 3 between Knoxville and Fayetteville.…The schedule for next week’s best-of-3 series will be announced when Peoria’s opponent is determined…The broadcast of Game 1 can be heard, starting with the pregame show 15 minutes prior to puck drop at http://portal.stretchinternet.com/rivermen
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