THE LUCK OF THE RIVERMEN

GRAND RAPIDS GRIFFINS 2 at Peoria Rivermen 3 OT

March 17, 2013

PEORIA, Ill. – The Peoria Rivermen defeated the Grand Rapids Griffins for the fifth straight time this season with a 3-2 overtime victory Sunday at Carver Arena.

The Rivermen (27-28-4-3) struck first as Mark Cundari scored his seventh goal of the season. The center snapped his shot inside the upper right hand corner of the goal past Tom McCollum to give Peoria a 1-0 lead at 1:42 of the opening period.

Tomas Tatar tied the game at one for the Griffins (36-21-2-2) with a goal at 1:11 of the second period. Jan Mursak fed the puck to Tatar coming up the middle, and the left wing slipped his shot over the right shoulder of Mike McKenna for his 21st goal of the season.

Anthony Nigro restored Peoria’s one-goal lead at 4:21 of the second period. The Woodbridge, Ontario native trailed on a breakaway play, and pulled up and caught a pass in stride, burying his shot in the right hand corner of the net. The goal was Nigro’s 4th of the season.

Grand Rapids tied the game at two as Louis-Marc Aubry found the back of the net at 14:28 of the second period. Tomas Jurco made a move around the right side of the net and gave a centering feed to Aubry, who tapped the puck past McKenna.

After a scoreless third period, Peoria scored 30 seconds into the overtime period to defeat the Griffins 3-2. Taylor Chorney tucked his shot inside the right goal post to give Peoria its fifth straight win over the Griffins.

McCollum stopped 25 of 28 shots and McKenna earned the victory behind 24 saves.

The Griffins will get a rematch against the Rivermen this week as they take on Peoria again at Carver Arena Tuesday at 8:05 p.m. EDT.

Three Stars: 1. PEO Chorney (OT goal); 2. PEO Nigro (goal, assist); 3. PEO Bouvet-Morrissette (assist)