Goal keeper Magnus Hellberg made 20 saves to earn his sixth shutout of the season as the Milwaukee Admirals handed the Peoria Rivermen a 3-0 loss Sunday night at Carver Arena in front of 4,302 fans. The Rivermen ended the season with a AHL record of 33-35-5-3. The Admirals took a 1-0 lead with 7:27 remaining in the first period courtesy of Mattias Ekholm’s 10th goal of the season. Ekholm took a shot that Mike McKenna got a piece of, but the puck trickled across the goal line. Ryan Ellis and Patrick Cehlin assisted on the first goal of the contest that needed to be reviewed. Daniel Bang scored his ninth goal of the year at the 10:34 mark of the middle frame to increase Milwaukee’s lead to two goals. On a breakaway, Bang cut to the forehand and was able to elevate the puck over the outstretched right pad of McKenna for the tally. Joonas Jarvinen earned the lone assists on the play. With 5:03 remaining in the second period, Zach Budish scored his first goal of the season to make it a 3-0 game. Mark Van Guilder took a shot that McKenna originally stopped. The rebound went to Budish, who backhanded the puck into an open net. Mattias Ekholm was credited with the secondary assist.
-Bob
Down 3-0 with five minutes remaining, it would have been easy for the playoff-bound Charlotte Checkers to pack it in and continue their road trip. Their captain, Brett Sutter, had other ideas. In exactly 5:49 of game time, Sutter scored two goals and two assists, including the overtime winner, to cap a hugely improbable 4-3 comeback over the Peoria Rivermen on Tuesday night at Carver Arena. In danger of being shut out one minute, the Checkers now carry a five-game point streak (2-0-3) into their final two games of the season. Sutter’s outburst tied the franchise record for most points in a single game, something he himself had achieved twice earlier this season. After starting the rally himself with a wraparound goal with 4:48 left in regulation, he had the primary helpers on goals by Justin Shugg and Zach Boychuk before doing the honors himself with a sharp-angle rocket just 1:01 into the extra session. John Muse, making his second consecutive start in goal, made 25 saves. Rivermen goalie Mike McKenna, whose 50 saves that night are still tied for the most made by any goaltender in the AHL this season, was up to his old tricks on Tuesday as part of a 43-save showing. Goals by T.J. Hensick in the first period and Nathan Longpre in the second period looked as though they would be enough support, with Evgeny Grachev’s goal to give the Rivermen a 3-0 lead with 5:23 remaining seeming to put the game out of Charlotte’s reach.
-Bob
Three straight wins over the Peoria Rivermen weren’t in the cards for the Rockford IceHogs on Wednesday as the Hogs were shutout 4-0 at Carver Arena before 2,476 fans. The first period went scoreless on Wednesday as Peoria rattled off the first seven shots on goal in the opening frame while Rockford fired the final 12 shots of the period. In the second period, Peoria snagged the first goal of the game 4:18 into the frame. Andrew Murray fired a shot though traffic past a screened Henrik Karlsson for his 13th goal of the season. The Peoria lead was extended later in the stanza. Newly acquired winger Nathan Longpre picked up a Tyler Shattock pass and snuck his fifth goal of the season under the arm of Karlsson in transition at 17:12. A penalty shot goal moved the Rivermen’s lead to 3-0 in the third frame. After getting tripped by Ryan Stanton on a breakaway, Murray buried his second goal of the game with a penalty shot marker 3:25 into the third period. Rockford pulled Karlsson with just over three-minutes to play in regulation in a desperate attempt to get back into the game but Jeff Woywitka fired a shot into the Hogs empty net to seal it at 17:41. The iceHogs outshot the Rivermen 36-20 in the contest, but it wasn’t enough as their four-game winning streak was snapped.
-Bob
After trailing throughout most of the game, Rostislav Olesz registered his second goal, and third point for Rockford, of the game to help the IceHogs beat the Peoria Rivermen 5-4 Saturday evening at Carver Arena in front of 6,039 fans. In the third period, down 4-3, a power play goal evened the score for Rockford. Jimmy Hayes set up Adam Clendening at the right point and the rookie blueliner blasted his seventh goal of the season past Mike McKenna through traffic at 7:28. That set the stages for another Rostislav Olesz game-winning goal late in the third period. Martin St. Pierre knocked down a clear out attempt by Peoria and fired a shot in on McKenna where Olesz re-directed in his sixth goal of the season and second game-winning goal in as many nights, this one at 17:29 of the final frame. The IceHogs earned their tenth third period come-from-behind victory of the season, most in the AHL.
-Bob
In his final game with the Peoria Rivermen on a conditioning assignment, goaltender Brian Elliott shutout the Lake Erie Monsters in a 2-0 win Saturday evening at Carver Arena in front of 7,660 fans. Elliott stopped 27 shots and finished his two-game stint in Peoria with a 0.946 save percentage. The Rivermen were the first team to score after both teams missed out on power-play opportunities in the first period. Jani Hakanpaa slapped a backdoor pass from the blue line to a wide-open Derek Nesbitt. Nesbitt deflected the pass past Calvin Pickard into the back of the net for his 25th goal of the year at 12:24. The goal for Nesbitt was the 200th American Hockey League point of his career and the assist for Hakanpaa was his first point in the AHL. The Rivermen went 0-for-3 on the power play, while Lake Erie was 0-for-2. Peoria outshot the Monsters 35-27.
-Bob
