The Peoria Rivermen (38-30-4, 80 pts.) kept pushing towards the playoffs Thursday night as they defeated the Texas Stars 3-2 at Carver Arena before 5,235 fans. Adam Cracknell and Patrick O’Sullivan scored third period goals to lead Peoria to their 38th win of the year. It took 26:53 for the game’s first goal to be scored and it came off the stick of Peoria’s Derek Nesbitt. T.J. Hensick entered the Texas zone on the left wing, sent a cross ice pass to Phil McRae, who found a streaking Derek Nesbitt up the middle. Nesbitt tipped in his 21st of the year past Jack Campbell. Texas evened things up at 13:39 of the middle frame when Matt Fraser netted his league-leading 35th goal of the year. Colton Sceviour skated the puck behind the net and snuck a backhand pass to Fraser in the slot who fired a quick shot past Jake Allen. The Rivermen outshot the Stars 38-34 and went 0-for-4 on the man advantage. Texas also failed to score on the power play. Click Here for Game Box Score.
-Bob
Goalie Alex Stalock made 31 saves and T.J. Hensick scored the only goal as the Peoria Rivermen shutout the San Antonio Rampage 1-0 on Sunday evening at Carver Arena before 3,845 fans. It is the ninth shutout of the season by Rivermen goaltenders and the first for Stalock who was making his first start since joining the team. The Rivermen snapped a five-game skid (0-4-0-1) now have a record of 37-30-2-2, 78 points and a tie for eighth place in the AHL Western Conference.T.J. Hensick scored with 0.5 seconds remaining in the second period. With a faceoff inside the Rampage zone and 5.6 seconds left, Cade Fairchild fired a slap shot that went wide of the net but bounced off the wall right to Hensick who shot the puck into the open goal. Click Here for Box Score.
-Bob
The Peoria Rivermen fired 43 shots on goal but only scored once in their 2-1 loss to the Hamilton Bulldogs Sunday at Carver Arena before 6,319 fans.Hamilton scored the first goal of the game at 6:39 of the second period. Travis Novak took a wrist shot from between the circles that snuck underneath Jake Allen and slowly rolled across the goal line. The goal was the first in the career of Novak who joined the Bulldogs from St. Cloud State last week. The Rivermen tied the affair with 3:58 remaining in the period thanks to Jonathan Cheechoo’s 21st goal of the year. Cheechoo stole the puck in the slot and backhanded the puck past the outstretched right pad of a sprawled out Robert Mayer. Mayer finished the game with 42 saves and the game’s first star while Allen made 32 saves in the losing effort. Click here for Box Score.
-Bob
The Peoria Rivermen struck first and never looked back as they took down the first-place Oklahoma City Barons on Friday night 4-2 at Carver Arena before 5,585 fans. Four Rivermen players had multi-point games, highlighted by Danny Syvret’s three points (one goal, two assists). Jake Allen stopped 27 shots to earn his seventh victory of the year. Peoria outshot Oklahoma City 35-29. The Rivermen went two-for-five on the man advantage while the Barons failed to score on their only powerplay opportunity in the game. The Rivs picked up their 31st win of the season (31-25-2-1). Click here for complete game stats.
-Bob
The Peoria Rivermen set a season high with 47 shots on goal and built a 5-0 lead on their way to a easy 5-2 win over the Charlotte Checkers on Saturday night in front of 7,306 at Carver Arena. A total of 13 different Rivermen recorded at least a point as they defeated the AHL Midwest Division leaders in their first visit to Peoria. The Rivs improved to 25-21-2-1 and regained sole possession of third place in the Midwest Division with the win. Ben Bishop stopped 22 of 24 shots on goal in his league-leading 21st win on the campaign while T.J. Hensick and Danny Syvret turned in multi-point efforts. Charlotte’s Jerome Samson spoiled Bishop’s shutout attempt with a goal at 3:11 in the third period and Zach Boychuk finished the scoring at 16:41 with an assist from A.J. Jenks for the Checkers. Click here for complete game statistics.
-Bob
