LAFAYETTE, La. – The Peoria Rivermen gave up a three-goal lead but captured a 4-3 overtime win for the second straight night over the Louisiana IceGators on Friday night at the Cajundome.
After a scoreless first period, the Rivermen struck first as Garrett Vermeersch connected into the top right corner from the left circle on a 5-on-3 power play on assists from Christian Weidauer and Jake Trask 4:12 into the second period. Vermeersch completed a 2-on-1 break with Steve Morra 4:04 later to put the Rivermen ahead 2-0. 
Morra pounded a rebound home from the right circle assisted by Josh Harris after a Louisiana turnover to give Peoria a 3-0 lead with 6:03 left before the second intermission. The IceGators finally tallied with 1:26 remaining in the middle chapter on a Chris Wilson power play goal to cut the Rivermen lead to 3-1 at the intermission.
The IceGators cut their deficit to 3-2 4:27 into the final stanza off a Rivermen turnover at center ice converted by Bret Peppler from the right circle. The hosts tied the game with only 2:19 left in regulation on a backdoor feed at the left doorstep to Wilson.
The game-winner came at 2:47 of overtime as Josh Harris converted feeds from Alec Hagaman and Jordan Sims and scored from the right circle for his second game-winning goal.
Kyle Rank earned the win with 17 saves while Marco DiFilippo suffered the overtime loss while making 30 saves. On power plays, the Rivermen were 1-for-5 while the IceGators were 1-for-6.
The Rivermen (21-11-3, 45 points) remain in second place by one point behind Knoxville. The IceGators (18-11-6, 42 points) stay in third place in the Southern Professional Hockey League. The contest was the fourth straight overtime game between the clubs with the Rivermen taking the second point in three of them.
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