Peoria spanked 4-2; Wolves 6 for 7 against Rivermen

A chastened Chicago Wolves continued to make the Peoria Rivermen their bitch, handing them a 4-2 drubbing Sunday afternoon at the Allstate Arena. It was the fourth straight loss on the road for the Peoria hockey club, which has had only one victory this season versus Chicago.

Chicago dominated the first frame of the game, putting 18 shots on goal, a season high for the Peoria team, while facing just 8 from the Rivermen. Chris Beckford-Tseu turned aside all the shots, and stymied two Chicago power plays in the period to keep Peoria in the game, including a disputed puck that hit the padding material just inside the net, but never completely crossed the goal line.

In the second frame, with the score tied 0-0, Peoria put 17 shots on Chicago netminder Fred Brathwaite, compared to just nine Chicago shots on goal. But it was Chicago that drew first blood as Joey Crabb earned his seventh goal of the season. Crabb took a feed off of Guillaume Desbiens, raced through the slot and shot past Beckford-Tseu. Just 65 seconds later Darren Haydar, Jason Krog and Brett Sterling created a three on one. Haydar dumped the puck to Krog who tapped it to Sterling in the circle. Sterling fired it into the pads of Beckford-Tseu. However, Sterling stayed with it and popped it in for a 2-0 lead. It was his 46th goal of the season, leading the AHL in goals scored and rookie goals scored.

Niko Dimitrakos received a pass from Jordan LaVallee for a shot past Beckford-Tseu’s glove for a 3-0 lead. However Peoria began fighting back when Cory Larose mishandled a puck in the defensive zone, it was picked up by Rivermen Charles Linglet and Yan Stasny before Michael Glumac, in the scrum, put it in, ending the period Wolves 3, Rivermen 1.




















Peoria scored four minutes into the final period when Stasny put one in just under the crossbar to bring the Rivermen within one. Colin Stuart replied at 8.21 into the period to put the game away at 4-2.

Beckford-Tseu received the loss with 32 saves. Brathwaite received the win with 31 saves. The two teams tangle for the last time in the regular season Wednesday night at the Allstate.

In Fort Wayne, the Komets defeated the IceHogs 3-1, taking the lead back in the Western Division of the UHL.