MOLINE, IL – The Peoria Rivermen surrendered three goals in the second period and were unable to stage a comeback as they fell 4-1 to the Quad City Storm before 2,946 at the TaxSlayer Center Monday. The loss, Peoria’s second in its last three games, drops the Rivermen to 17-3-3 on the season, still good for a first-place tie with the Macon Mayhem in the SPHL standings before next weekend’s trio of home games.
The Storm got a power-play goal to open the scoring early in the second period. Immediately after Rivermen winger Dean Yakura was assessed a slashing minor at the 2:29 mark, Storm center Mitchell Mueller fired a wrister from atop the right-wing faceoff circle that eluded the glove of Rivermen netminder Stephen Klein for a 1-0 lead at 2:33.
The Storm lead doubled to 2-0 at 14:43 of the period when former Rivermen center Joe McKeown picked up a loose puck off a blocked shot high in the Rivermen zone, split the defense, and deked to the forehand to beat Klein just inside the right post.
Peoria had a penalty shot opportunity late in the second period go by the wayside after rookie winger Austin Vieth was hauled down on a breakaway into the Storm zone after goalie Peter Di Salvo came above the circles in an effort to knock the puck away from Vieth. Vieth’s deke to the backhand on the penalty shot sailed just wide of Di Salvo’s left post at 16:56 of the frame.
The Storm lead grew to 3-0 with the teams skating 4-on-4 later yet in the middle period. Storm defenseman Patrick Harrison hustled to the puck in the right corner of the Rivermen zone, sent it net front, and McKeown powered it past Klein for a 3-0 edge at 17:33 of the frame.
The Storm continued building their lead into the third period, while on the power-play. Mueller’s wrister from the right point got past Klein’s glove for a 4-0 advantage at 9:45 of the third stanza.
The Rivermen got on the board with a tally late in the third. Rivermen winger Alec Hagaman crashed the net, and helped teammate Beau Walker’s drive past Di Salvo to trim the Storm lead to 4-1 at 17:44 of the frame.
Klein stopped 19 of 23 shots faced in net as he took his third loss of the season. The first-year pro from Sakatoon, SK is 9-3-0 on the season, his first since finishing his collegiate playing career last year at Middlebury College.
Game recap courtesy of official SPHL media release
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