HUNTSVILLE, AL – The Peoria Rivermen battled to a 1-0 lead through two periods and held on to win 3-1 Saturday afternoon in Huntsville. The win, Peoria’s eighth in their last nine games, earns the Rivermen a split of their weekend pair at the Von Braun Center before Monday’s matchup at Quad City.
The Rivermen fired the opening salvo at even strength late in the first period. Rivermen winger Austin Vieth collected a loose puck at center ice, and lobbed a pass into the left-wing circle of the Havoc zone, where Peoria winger Jack Prince collected it and popped a shot past Havoc goaltender Max Milosek for the 1-0 lead at 14:42 of the first period.
The game remained 1-0 through the entirety of the second period until Peoria doubled their lead early in the third. Rivermen winger Alec Hagaman dropped a pass for teammate Will Smith at the top of the left-wing circle of the Havoc zone. Smith carried down the left wing, then sent a pass across the zone to Ben Blasko, who filled the empty net behind Milosek for a 2-0 edge at 3:33 of the period.
The Havoc got back to within a goal with their first of the game late in the third period. Havoc winger Ryan Salkeld took a pass from Huntsville defenseman Alec Brandrup, and put it past Rivermen netminder Stephen Klein for a 2-1 score at 16:46 of the period.
Peoria answered Huntsville’s tally and put the game back out of reach with a marker 31 seconds later. Vieth collected a loose puck at center ice and broke into the Havoc zone 1-on-1 with defenseman Dale Deon. Vieth deked his way past Deon, and rifled a wrister over Milosek’s shoulder and into the net for the eventual 3-1 final score at 17:17 of the period.
Klein stopped 22 of 23 shots faced in net to earn his ninth win of the season, and second in three games against the Havoc. The win improves Klein to 9-2-0 through 12 outings in his first pro season.
Game recap courtesy of official SPHL media release
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