Peoria, Ill.- One trend a hockey team doesn’t want to fall into is big deficits. For the second straight game the Rockford IceHogs fell into a 3-0 hole against the Peoria Rivermen, but unlike Saturday in Rockford, the IceHogs couldn’t overcome the debt and dropped a 4-1 game in Peoria.
Rockford labored through the first period on Wednesday night getting outshot 18-2 and trailing 3-0. Barry Tallackson began the scoring for Peoria when he floated a wrist shot past Joe Fallon at 5:32, assisted Danny Richmond and Bryce Lampman.
Yan Stastny stretched the league to 2-0 at 7:29 when he tipped in a perfect cross-ice centering pass from Jonas Junland for his third goal of the year. Nicholas Drazenovic finished off the first period scoring at 18:29 when he banked in a Stastny rebound for his second goal of the campaign.
After getting outshot 18-2 in the second period, Rockford came back and outshot Peoria 13-8 in the second frame, but Peoria claimed the only goal. Center Chris Porter wrapped a backhanded shot past Fallon at 15:44 of the second period for a 4-0 lead.
Rockford cracked Ben Bishop in the third frame to cut the deficit down to 4-1, but it wasn’t enough. Winger Kyle Greentree redirected a Richard Petiot slapshot over Bishop’s shoulder at 7:12 for his first goal of the season.
Bishop held Rockford off the board the rest of the way including a key 5-on-3 IceHogs power play midway through the third period. The Peoria puckstopper finished the night with 28 saves. Fallon played two periods and made 22 saves in the loss. Corey Crawford finished the third and turned away all seven Rivermen shots he faced.
Both teams finished without a power play goal as the IceHogs held Peoria to 0-5 and Rockford went 0-4.
Next Home Game: Friday, Oct. 23 vs. Milwaukee Admirals. Game time is 7:05 p.m. The first annual Hogtoberfest gets under way at 5 p.m. as the IceHogs host a block party on Elm Street and pre-game concert featuring rock band Night Ranger. Also, the first 4,000 fans will pick up a white long-sleeve T-shirt thanks to Dental Dimensions, U.S. Cellular, Guerilla Graffix and ESPN 1380.