Rivermen 3, Wolves 2 (OT)
The Chicago Wolves scored two third-period goals in under 30 seconds to overcome a 2-0 deficit and force overtime, but they couldn't hold off the Peoria Rivermen Friday night at Carver Arena, falling to host Peoria 3-2 in the extra frame.
Wolves netminder Eddie Lack (6-3-0) stopped 27 of 30 shots, while Jake Allen (4-7-1) went 35 of 37 for Peoria.
Heading into Friday's tilt, Peoria (4-7-2-1) had not won a game this year when they'd scored first. That no longer holds true.
Just as its first power play of the game ended, Peoria's Mark Cundari opened the scoring by taking control of the puck and ripping a point shot through traffic that crawled over Lack's stick hand and into the net at 5:41 in the first period.
That score stood as the only point until Rivermen center Phil McRae found a loose puck in front of Lack's net and flipped it into the mesh at the 4:43 mark of the second frame. The Wolves were held scoreless in the second period, snapping a seven-game streak of getting at least a point in that period.
It wasn't until the third that the Wolves (7-4-2-0) broke through with a score. Right wing Guillaume Desbiens swatted a puck out of the air and past Allen for his first goal of the year at 6:39.
Following Desbiens' lead, center Steve Pinizzotto redirected a puck mid-air into Allen's net less than a minute later for his third score of the season at 7:04.
Tied 2-2 after 60 minutes, the teams advanced to overtime where McRae got his second score of the night 4:34 into the extra period.
The Wolves will host the Rivermen Saturday at All-State Arena.
